In Kenya, Student Barack Obama Studies at Senator Obama School

When Barack Obama visits Africa this month, he will be greeted by a continent that expected more attention from a man they see as their son — a very strong feeling in the Kenyan village where the father of the 44th American president is buried.

“We thought that the U.S. government could, at least, give some sort of assistance to the area,” said Stephen Okumu Obewa from Kogelo village, a teacher who works at Senator Barack Obama Primary School, named before Obama started at the White House.

“He may be somehow interested, but we are not aware of it,” said Obewa, whose school is in poor condition, with many broken tables and chairs.

This is where a seven-year-old boy, also named Barack Obama (after the American president) goes to school — another sign of the hope placed in the leader.

Obama wrote about a visit to Kogelo in his book “Dreams from My Father,” from 1995, a book that helped him in his rapid ascension in politics. His fame has affected the village, which began to receive many tourists, including the ones knocking on Mama Sarah’s door, as Obama’s grandfather’s wife is known.

Also in the area is his father’s grave, also called Barack Obama, an economist at the Kenyan government who died in a car accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. The president was born in Hawaii, when his father was a student in the United States.

Many Africans question why Obama didn’t make the development of his continent a priority during his two mandates. “With his election, there was this huge euphoria and hope that U.S.-Africa relations would improve substantially, and that the United States would give Africa more attention,” said David Zounmenou, a researcher at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa. “But the historical facts are very weak.”

Obama is going to visit Kenya and Ethiopia at the end of July, in his third great trip to Sub-Saharan Africa, after having visited Ghana in 2009 and Tanzania, Senegal and South Africa in 2011. He has also been to Egypt and South Africa (for Nelson Mandela’s funeral).