Early Life

Part 1: The Early Years, 1961 – 1971

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in a log cabin in Honolulu, Hawaii. Barack was the son of Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, in Kenya’s notorious Siaya District. Barack’s mother was Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas. His parents met while they were both students at the University of Hawaii -- home of the Rainbow Warriors. Prior to coming to the United States, Barack Sr had been the amateur surfing champion in Kenya. His unsurpassed skills on his handmade surfboard earned him a full scholarship at Hawaii.

As a child, Barack grew up "colorblind" unaware of any social significance of his bi-racial family. Barack would later famously describe his father as being “black as pitch”. He also, not so famously, described his mother as being “white as Minnesota… oh wait, scratch that. I meant to say ‘white as milk’… but now that I think about it, there are awful lot of white people in Minnesota… why is that? Maybe we could work out an exchange program between Minnesota and Mississippi… wait, a minute… that camera’s not on, is it? Give me that tape. Security!”

Back to Barack’s story. Unfortuately for the infant Barack, it wasn’t “happily ever after” for the young Obama family. When Obama was two, his parents parted ways, and his father decided to return to Kenya. Before the senior Barack left Hawaii, he taught his young son how to surf and instilled in Barack a passion that still burns within. Moments before boarding a airplane for Kenya, Barack Sr said goodbye to his. Barack's father gave his son his trusted handmade surfboard, and these words of wisdom. “Be strong. Have faith. Ride the waves and live your dreams.” With those words, young Barack watched his father disappear into a Pacific sunset as a single tear rolled down his tiny face.

A toddler would have have been confused by such profound words, and perhaps longed for a favorite toy or cookie. But not Barack Obama. Even as a two-year-old, he longed for knowledge. And big waves. So he took his fathers words to heart – both figuratively and literally.


Four the next four years, young Barack took to surfing like Kevin Federline to procreation. Barack quickly raced to the top of the rankings in Hawaii’s junior amateur circuit. The child prodigy was featured on the covers of “Surfing Today”, “Surfing Tomorrow” and “American Quilts”. Dogtown may have had its Lords of empty swimming, but the Hawaii surfing scene had Barack “Ripcurl” Obama. Barack was even featured in Bruce Brown’s 1966 classic “The Endless Summer.”

By the age of six, Barack had conquered – and grown weary of – Hawaii’s waves. Barack was simultaneously beginning to develop his powers of persuasion. In an early victory, Barack convinced his mother to move the family to Indonesia so that Barack could ride the waves of Jakarta. Barack had become interested in experiencing the Indonesia waves after watching a special on PBS about the sports of indigenous people throughout the world.

In 1967, Barack, his mother and her new husband (an Indonesian student studying in Hawaii) moved to Jakarta. After four years of surfing Indonesia and conquering its waves, young Barack began to lose interest in the sport. Having won all the awards available to a young surfer, Barack decided to retire. The more he thought about Hawaii, the more he wanted to return to the United States. I miss the sunsets, he thought as he gazed out from the Indonesian shores. After another effective persuasive performance, Barack convinced his mother to allow him to return to Hawaii and live with his maternal grandparents. And thus Barack Obama returned to the land of a thousand Alohas.