Details About Barack Obama's Bond With His Sister Auma

Former President Barack Obama has eight half-siblings, and while his relationship with each of them vary, he has a very special bond with his sister, Auma Obama. Auma is only one year older than Barack, and when he paid a visit to Kenya to learn more about his family's roots, it was Auma who welcomed him at the airport and gave him a lift in her dilapidated Volkswagen Beetle.

"[I] think the entire stay I was here it broke down four or five times," Barack recalled during a speech he delivered to the Kenyan people almost 30 years later (via The White House). Auma showed her brother the lay of the land (when the Beetle permitted), and opened her home to Barack for the duration of his stay.

Unlike the complicated relationship Barack had with his father, he and Auma remain close to this day. When Auma got into a scuffle with Kenyan authorities in 2024 while protesting against tax increases, some on X, formerly Twitter, were quick to criticize Barack for not publicly speaking out after his sister suffered some injuries. Auma wasn't having it, however, and took to the platform to reply to the comments, writing, "He cares. He checked in." This protective side of Auma has been on display more than once, and she and Barack have continued to support each other throughout their lives, despite residing on different continents.

When Barack Obama first won his senate seat, Auma Obama, who wasn't exactly versed in American politics, didn't think too much of it, yet she flew all the way to the United States to support her brother at his inauguration. "That was very significant and I was really, really proud of him," Auma told NPR. "And, you know, I left it at that. That's what he wanted to do. He'd achieved it. He was going to obviously do it well and that was it, I thought, and then life happened." A few years later Auma found herself attending her brother's presidential inauguration. She didn't know what to expect, but she was a proud sister. "The experience was really something very, very powerful," she recalled.

Speaking to CNN in 2015, Auma admitted that she can be an overprotective older sister at times. "I love my brother. What can I say?" she quipped. She also explained why she doesn't refer to Barack as her half brother. "I mean it's interesting that we met quite late in life. We hit it off — and yeah — he's my brother — that's why we don't do the half thing," she told the outlet, referring to their initial meeting in Chicago after she received an invitation from her then-estranged brother to pay him a visit. "I'm proud of our name because my brother really has carried our name up there," Aauma said. "It's made our mark in the world."