Left - President Barack Obama - Right - President's half brother, Mark Ndesandjo
AP Photos/Pablo Martinez/Vincent Yu
Beijing – Until now President Obama’s half-brother who lives in China has stayed out of the limelight.
Today during an interview with CNN, the president acknowledged that he met with his brother Mark Ndesandjo briefly during his visit 3-day visit to China.
The president offered no details about the meeting however an aide said the meeting took place Monday night after Obama arrived in Beijing.
"I don't know him well. I met him for the first time a couple of years ago," Obama told CNN. "He stopped by with his wife for about five minutes during the trip."
Describing the meeting as "overwhelming" and "intense," Ndesandjo told The Associated Press in an interview today that he had long anticipated the chance to welcome his famous brother to China.
"I think he came directly off the plane, changed some clothes and then came down and saw us," Ndesandjo told AP Television News today. "And he just gave me a big hug. And it was so intense. I'm still over the moon on it. I am over the moon. And my wife, she is his biggest fan and I think she is still recovering."
On the streets of China, Ndesandjo is turning heads. He has appeared on television in Hong Kong and his picture has been on the front pages of the China Daily and other regional newspapers.
It was on Nov. 4 when Ndesandjo held a press conference for his semiautobiographical novel Nairobi to Shenzhenb: A Novel of Love in the East.
It was on Nov. 4 when Ndesandjo held a press conference for his semiautobiographical novel Nairobi to Shenzhenb: A Novel of Love in the East.
He is one of two children born to Barack Obama Sr. Their father had six other children with other wives. Their father died in a car crash in Kenya in 1982.
Ndesandjo’s novel is written in diary form and is based on his own experiences growing up with an abusive alcoholic father and moving to China where he fell in love with a Chinese woman and began working with orphans.
President Obama’s 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father dwells on his absent father and how it shaped his life.
During an interview on National Public Radio, Obama said he thinks in some way he still chases after his father’s ghost a little bit. Ndesandjo said his brother’s reflection was interesting. “Well, I guess in my case I don’t see myself chasing after his ghost. I think for a long time his ghost was chasing after me,” Ndesandjo said.
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