KENYA: Rob Crilly in Kisumu reports on the visit to his family's home of a rising American political star
When Barack Obama first came in search of his family roots in Kenya's western Nyanza province he arrived in the dusty lakeside town of Kisumu at the end of a bumpy seven-hour journey in a cramped bus from Nairobi.
This morning he will arrive in a private jet. Hundreds of locals are expected to welcome him at the airport, bringing thousands of cattle and goats in the traditional greeting of his Luo tribe.
But then Barack Obama is no longer just the American son of a Kenyan goatherd visiting his relatives.
Two decades after that first visit, Obama is America's only black senator, a man tipped as a future Democratic president and something close to a hero in Kenya, a country desperate for an African success story.
Nicholas Rajula, an opposition politician in Nyanza, summed up the country's mood: "We see him not just as a returning son, but also as someone to give Kenyans and Africans a voice in America, the last superpower."
The senator for Illinois arrived in Kenya from South Africa on Thursday on the second leg of his African tour to find a country in the grip of "Obamamania".
Kenya's national theatre recently staged a play based on his life story. A school near his family village has been named in his honour and street traders hawk T-shirts and calendars bearing his image.
During his six-day tour, Obama (45) will visit his step-grandmother in the village where his father grew up, about 175 miles from Nairobi.
Yesterday he met president Mwai Kibaki to discuss how corruption and tribalism in Kenyan politics might be tackled.
Later, during a press conference, Obama said he hoped his trip would lift Africa up the political agenda in the US.
"Part of it is to listen and find out what is on the minds of the Kenyan people so I can go back to the Senate's foreign relations committee where I serve and try to communicate some of the issue that might help strengthen the partnership between the United States and Kenya," he said.
Obama's father, also called Barack Obama, grew up herding goats in the village of Nyangoma Kogela in western Kenya.
He excelled in school and won a scholarship to study in Hawaii. There he met Obama jnr's mother, but later left his wife and young son to study at Harvard, before returning to Kenya.
Obama snr went on to earn a reputation as one of Kenya's leading economists before dying in a car crash in 1982.
His son is now a rising star in the Democratic Party. He has barely put a foot wrong since being elected to the Senate in 2004 and is talked about as a contender for the 2008 presidential election.
That speculation has raised expectations in Kenya that Obama may one day be in a position to rid Kenya of poverty, disease and corruption.
Nowhere is the excitement more feverish that in the western city of Kisumu, overlooking Lake Victoria.
Hawkers sell "Obama tosha" T-shirts - Swahili for "Obama is enough" - alongside their usual array of fake designer gear.
In a country where corruption is a fact of life and where politicians judge their status by the size of their Mercedes fleet, the shoe-shiners and newspaper vendors in Kisumu's Central Square see Obama as something close to a saviour.
"He is different. He is a straight man looking to help his people. The way he does politics in the US is better than here," says pastor Martin Obuya, as he stands barefoot waiting for his shoes to be shined.
"Here they do not tell the truth. Obama tells the truth."
It is an hour's drive from Kisumu to the Obama home village - a collection of brick huts set amid the thick grass and leafy mango trees of one of Kenya's most fertile regions.
A steady stream of visitors has made the journey in recent weeks, including relatives from Nairobi and American security agents.
There are signs of a VIP visit everywhere. Last month a government tractor was despatched to smooth the rutted and potholed dirt road that leads to the village. The family's simple huts have each had a lick of paint.
Children at the neighbouring Senator Obama Kogelo School have spent the past week clearing a path to new science labs which the senator is due to open today.
But for some people the excitement is not about a famous senator; it is excitement for a grandson returning to his family.
Sarah Onyango, Obama's 84-year-old step-grandmother, said there would be no need to put on airs and graces. "He is a down to earth humble man. Being a senator does not change that," she said in her simple sitting-room surrounded by "Obama for Illinois" campaign posters. Here he will be offered a simple stool and a spear in a traditional show of Luo respect. The ceremony will be followed by a feast, explained Mama Sarah, as she is universally known. "He might be an important man now, but he will be getting the same food that we always eat - some grilled goat, beef and maybe fish from the lake," she said.