Obama's bed: A story of vision for a united society through a child's eyes

US President Barack Obama's visit to Kenya has sent everyone yearning for a piece of the son of K'Ogelo.

Even before streets were lined with grass, and flags, in anticipation of Air Force One's landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, one man was already writing about POTUS (President of the United States) bedroom in Siaya. Or at least where he might have spent the night on his last visit as a senator.

In 2012, Andrew Maina wrote a story about a big man, through the eyes of a child. He wrote the book Obama's Bed: A visit to Mama Sarah Obama, a fictional narrative touching on the aspirations of a young girl who sleeps in Obama's bed.

The protagonist goes through a range of emotions as she experiences what it feels to sleep in the same bed Barack Obama slept on when he visited Kenya as a senator in 2006.

"Obama's story has been told but not from a child's perspective. So I wanted to close the gap because most literature is targeted at adults," says Maina.

The book focuses on a 12-year-old girl who together with her classmates, travel from their school in Nanyuki to K'Ogelo village, hundreds of kilometres away.

The Class Seven girl, Wanjiku, who is also the eldest in a family of five, gets a different perspective of life when she travels through major towns on her way to Siaya.

It is during this visit to Obama's village that she bumps into Mama Sarah Obama at whose house she sought accommodation. The book narrates how Wanjiku is offered a bed that had coincidentally been used by US President Barack Obama, then a senator.

On that night, she has a dream. The US president had visited Kenya and wanted his bed back. She had to be moved to a different room.

The theme of unity and cohesion is prominent in the book, and with it the symbolism of closer ties between the Luo and Kikuyu communities.

"The Sarah Obama Foundation is the brain child of Mama Sarah. We are involved in uplifting mankind both in and out of Kenya. We do this through bringing peace and harmony between different communities. This year, we are devoting our time and resources in working among the Luos, Kikuyus and Kalenjins. These were the communities mostly affected by the 2007 post-election chaos," says the author.

Through Wanjiku's journey in the book, she is faced by different experiences that make her accept and cherish others in life. In Obama's bed, we see the fears, struggles and the dreams of a poor girl in rural Kenya.

According to the 53-year-old writer, this was formed by the experience he had during the 2007/2008 post-election violence during which, he was forced to close down his businesses that were based in Kisumu.

However, he is making a comeback to a place he calls home. Hoping that the bloodshed that was experienced will never recur.

"I have worked in Kisumu for more than 20 years and it is the place I call home. Whenever I'm travelling and I get to Kericho, the feeling of getting home sets in," says Maina.

The author's other works show he is partial to Kisumu. His other book A Letter from Kisumu touches on the lives of two girls who were separated by a war and only had to rely on letters as a means of communication.

According to Maina, most of his books are online as a way of avoiding the hustles of engaging publishers.

For him, the reading culture in Kenya needs to change in order to create a demand for the available literature.

"There are many good writers out here and if something is done to improve on the reading culture, then at least one would feel appreciated," Maina says.

His other books are The Ngware Ride and Lying on the Mound, all are available on online.