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Mama Sarah Obama Will Speak at Morgan Park High School on Friday

By Howard Ludwig | October 6, 2015 12:08pm
 Mama Sarah Obama, the president's step grandmother, will speak to students at Morgan Park High School on Friday morning. Mama Sarah. 94. has devoted herself to helping orphans and widows through her foundation in Nairobi, Kenya.
Mama Sarah Obama, the president's step grandmother, will speak to students at Morgan Park High School on Friday morning. Mama Sarah. 94. has devoted herself to helping orphans and widows through her foundation in Nairobi, Kenya.
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MORGAN PARK — Mama Sarah Obama, the only surviving grandparent of President Barack Obama, will speak to students on Friday at Morgan Park High School.

The 9 a.m. assembly in the school's auditorium at 1744 W. Pryor Ave. comes as Mama Sarah is visiting for the 2015 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, said Dr. Carolyn Epps, principal of the school in Morgan Park.

Mama Sarah, 94, has devoted herself to helping orphans and widows through her foundation in Nairobi, Kenya. She received an award from the United Nations for her efforts last year.

She was the second wife of Obama’s late grandfather and helped raise the president's father, Barack Obama Sr. They belong to the Luo tribe and she speaks Luo.

"She's the one he refers to as 'granny' in 'Dreams from My Father'," said Morgan Mudron, a teacher at the school and a coordinator of its International Baccalaureate program.

The curriculum is somewhat responsible for bringing the special guest to the high school's campus. Last year, the IB program was featured heavily as part of a presentation to the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mudron said.

Officials from the Chicago-based consulate were impressed with the program and in turn shared native foods and other cultural experiences with the 1,430 students in Morgan Park, Mudron said.

"We had a wonderful day of it," she said.

After the successful presentation, school officials reached out to coordinators with the mayor's office and asked if the high school could host another visitor, perhaps from a French- or African-speaking country, Mudron said.

This laid the groundwork for Mama Sarah's visit. And while excited, school officials were a bit concerned as to how they ought to refer to their guest.

"Her personal assistant, Faith, said to just call her Mama," Mudron said.

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