Obama’s Indon sis rallies youth: You got the power

Published: June 20, 2008 | Author: Krystina Orozco
Total Views: 796 | Philippine News

SAN FRANCISCO — Maya Soetoro-Ng, also known as Barack Obama’s sister, spoke to Oakland youths on the importance of voter participation and young activism on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at the East Oakland Youth Development Center.
“The youths of today have more power than one thinks; they possess the power to make people listen to their truthful insights, and I’ve never seen a more beautiful kind of participation,” said Soetoro-Ng. As Oakland’s teenagers listened attentively, Soetoro-Ng definitely sparked a fire of curiosity and awe amongst the crowd.“How can we better ourselves to become the next president,” questioned a young man of the youth development center.The East Oakland Development Center was founded in 1973 with a mission to develop children into healthy and self-supporting citizens and to always be aware of what is going on in the country and the world. It is a community-based, non-profit agency.

“The answer to this question is to recognize that unique power you posses, that unique belief that only you are willing to fight for,” said Soetoro-Ng. “When that happens, getting involved which should happen next, will follow naturally.”The young people held on to her every word as Soetoro-Ng shared her experiences of growing up with Barack, an experience that demonstrated the strong bond between them.As his younger sister, Soetoro-Ng reminisced about Obama’s philosophical ways of teaching and guiding her throughout her life. The two shared many long walks along with in-depth conversations brushing upon lighter topics as Obama’s love for jazz and music, a topic that became the beginning of Soetoro-Ng’s love for jazz as well.

“A life without service was not good enough,” shared Soetoro-Ng from one of her brother’s nuggets of advice. “Not only do we need to be nourished, but to also nourish others as well.”It was this introduction to a life of servitude when Soetoro-Ng decided upon becoming a high school teacher in Hawaii. Her first summer job was actually given to her by her brother, and although it was a simple job – teaching swimming lessons to children – Soetoro-Ng found her calling. “I take responsibility for the youths… by loving them and being that aunty who pushes them to be better versions of themselves,” she said. “I like to remind them that the world is always watching”Soetoro-Ng was born to an Indonesian businessman named Lolo Soetoro and an American cultural anthropologist named Ann Dunham, who is the mother of Obama. She received her Ph.D in education from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 2006. In May of 2007, after announcing that she would assist her half-brother campaign for president, Soetoro-Ng took two months off from academic work. She is currently a high school teacher (on leave) at a Hawaiian school for girls and also teaches night classes at the University of Hawaii.

She is married to a Chinese Canadian professor who also teaches at the University of Hawaii, according to a Wikipedia entry.
Throughout her campaign, Soetoro-Ng paid close attention to a very important aspect: “As I observed many different youths campaign for my brother, I noticed one thing: Young people are the very backbone of this campaign, which in turn, created a new vision for our country. They are our inspiration and our future.”The room was filled with a tremendous amount of awe, as could be seen from the exchange between the honored guest and her audience of mostly young people. They honored Soetoro-Ng with a roaring applause at the end of her talk.