US President Barack Obama's half-brother Mark Ndesandjo on Wednesday broke his silence to speak of their abusive father at the launch of his first novel.
Ndesandjo, who has lived in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for seven years, said he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen" after a string of extraordinary events -- including his brother being elected president -- made him come to terms with his past.
"My father beat me. He beat my mother. You just do not do that," he told a press conference hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China and attended by representatives of the US Consul-General here.
"I remember in my house, I would hear the screams. I would hear my mum's pain. As a child, I could not protect her," he said as tears streamed down his face. "I could not remember any good things about my father. My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years."
Obama's Kenyan father and American mother separated when Obama was just two and the president has spoken about the problems children face growing up with an absent father. Ndesandjo, son of Obama's late father and his third wife Ruth Nidesand, had been dodging the media since his identity came to light during Obama's election campaign.
He had not used the name "Obama" and had not even told his close acquaintances about his connection with the president until it was reported in the media. But the backdrop at his book launch on Wednesday named him as "Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo".
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