President Barack Obama's first trip to China had a family connection, as the president took time from his diplomatic duties to visit with his half-brother, author Mark Ndesandjo.
Ndesandjo, who teaches piano and runs a business in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, told the Associated Press that he bought tickets to Beijing months ago in the hopes of meeting with his older half-brother during his mission to China. And though the meeting lasted just five minutes, Ndesandjo clearly was not disappointed with the results.
"He just gave me a big hug," Ndesandjo said. "And it was so intense. I'm still over the moon on it. I am over the moon. And my wife...I think she is still recovering.
"All I can say is, we talked about family, and it was very powerful because when he came in through that door, and I saw him and I hugged him, and he hugged me and hugged my wife, it was like we were continuing a conversation that had started many years ago," Ndesandjo said.
The two last met in January, when Ndesandjo attended the President's inauguration in Washington, D.C., as a family guest.
Earlier in the month, Ndesandjo released a new semi-autobiographical novel "Nairobi to Shenzhen," in which the author reveals that the father he shares with President Obama, Kenyan college instructor Barack Obama Sr., was physically abusive to both himself and his mother.
Ndesandjo, who was born in America and raised in Kenya, said he made the disclosure to raise awareness of the issue of abuse in families.
President Obama said after the book launch that he didn't know his half-brother very well, but that he did not feel Ndesandjo was betraying private family details in his book.
In his first book, "Dreams of My Father," President Obama said his father was an alcoholic and did not treat members of his family well.
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