Mark Obama Ndesandjo

Mark Obama Ndesandjo, half brother of President Barack Obama, his wife Liu Xuehua (Chinese), and President Barack Obama

Born in Kenya and a twelve year resident of Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo is an accomplished pianist, writer, artist and businessman. He has a BSc. Physics (also completed BA math requirements) from Brown University, an MSc Physics from Stanford and is an Emory EMBA graduate. He consults worldwide, using over 15 years of telecommunications and international marketing and branding experience gained as a senior manager at Lucent, Nortel and other companies. He is an HSK L7 (advanced) Mandarin speaker and writer, and an avid brush calligrapher. In addition to his first book, Nairobi to Shenzhen, he has completed a memoir and published 3 piano CDs, The Untimely Ones, Night Moods and his own composition Reflections on William Blake. His current projects include a translation of Tang Dynasty poems. He regularly gives piano lessons to orphans in and around Shenzhen. Mr Obama Ndesandjo has been appointed Volunteer Image Ambassador and Special Olympics Image Ambassador by China. Recently he established the Mark Obama Ndesandjo Foundation Ltd for cultural exchange, whose goal is to bring art to youth and the disadvantaged.

Mark is Barack Obama's half-brother, and is the son of Ruth Baker and Barack Obama, Sr. Through his mother, he is Jewish. He is married to Liu Xuehua (also spelled Liu Zue Hua in some reports), a Chinese woman from Henan Province.