Barack Obama Just Shared Some Heartbreaking News

She was a powerhouse in her community for promoting education as a way of empowering the less fortunate. And while that work made Sarah Obama something of a celebrity in Kenya, she was known in the United States for a very different reason. Sarah, who was also known as "Mama Sarah," appeared as "Granny" in the book Dreams From My Father, written by her step-grandson Barack Obama. Mama Sarah's death on March 29th spurred the former president to take to social media to mourn her passing. He wrote on Twitter: "My family and I are mourning the loss of our beloved grandmother, Sarah Ogwel Onyango Obama, affectionately known to many as 'Mama Sarah' but known to us as 'Dani' or Granny. We will miss her dearly, but we'll celebrate with gratitude her long and remarkable life." Barack Obama's half-sister, Auma , also posted a memorial on Twitter, calling Mama Sarah: "The most important person in my life [...] my inspiration, my rock, my comfort zone [and] my safe space." In his book, Barack Obama chronicled the difficulties he often encountered when he tried to speak with his grandmother and told of an awkwardness that later turned into affection. Mama Sarah even traveled to the United States to see her step-grandson sworn in as the country's first African American President in 2009. On a later trip to his family's home in Kogelo , President Obama was caught on camera laughing and dancing with his grandmother during the inauguration of a local youth center. He had visited Kogelo at his grandmother's request. Mama Sarah had been ill in the week leading up to her death, and a family spokesman clarified that she did not die from COVID-19. Her daughter, Marsat Onyango, confirmed that she passed away while under the care of doctors at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu , Kenya. Mama Sarah, a devout Muslim, had previously worked as a cook for British missionaries in her home country. But it was her experience raising the former president's father, Barack Obama Sr., that inspired her life's work. As she told Leaders: "When he was nine years old, I would take Barack Obama Sr. on my bike about nine kilometers to a primary school way off my homestead. I would do this every day so he could get an education that I was denied." Mama Sarah soon began to advocate for literacy rights, particularly for the girls and orphans who lived around her village. She spent decades raising or helping those same orphans by providing them with food and education. In a 2014 interview with NPR, Obama's grandmother described her work, saying: "I encourage [girls] — even the ones who have had families at a young age — I encourage them to go to school so that the cycle of poverty can end." That same year, the United Nations awarded Sarah Obama with the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award. During her life, she became such a prominent national figure in Kenya that The Guardian once described her as being embedded in the country's national mythology. As such, her passing has been marked by many of Kenya's most prominent politicians. Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga called Sarah Obama "a matriarch who lived ahead of her time" in his Twitter tribute. Meanwhile, Kenyan senator and human rights activist James Orengo tweeted his condolences, praising Mama Sarah's "magnetic personality and ability to care deeply for others." For his part, the governor of Kenya's Mombasa County, Hassan Joho , wrote on Twitter that: "[She] will always remain a symbol of strength, kindness and humility." Finally, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta paid tribute to Sarah Obama, saying: "The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation. We've lost a strong, virtuous woman. A matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values." Many of the former president's followers also took to social media to console Barack Obama over the death of Mama Sarah. CNN reports that the Obama family matriarch will be buried immediately in accordance with Islamic rites. #BarackObama #MamaSarah #News