In July 2015, President Barack Obama made his first official visit to Kenya as President of the United States. He was received with a level of national celebration that no foreign leader had ever received. Crowds lined the streets.
Schools were decorated. The country paused. Obama spoke at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and met with President Kenyatta, with whom he had a complicated relationship given the ICC charges.
He also visited Kogelo, his ancestral village in western Kenya. He told Kenyans to fight corruption and to respect the rights of women and LGBT people, messages that were not universally welcomed.