I naturally wondered about that myself, remember 'auntie' Zeituni saying that she was there when the letter arrived from the kenyan in Hawaii, to say that he had a son? It would be helpful to know the date on which that letter arrived in the village...Onyango, the only member of the clan who could read, would have read the letter our to the extended family... And when Stanley Ann and zero arrived in the village to introduce themselves, in 1983, according to a member of the clan in Kogelo, all she would have had to say is 'here we are, the white woman he married in Hawaii, and this is our son...' But that would only work if the dark boy had remained with his father and Ruth in Nairobi, and the villagers never knew who he was, in which case Malik would not have provided the revelation that he remembers playing with BHO2 when they both were boys...so what further lies remain to be uncovered?
I remember reading on FR that (apparently) Zero went to Kenya in ‘82 but this visit was not part of the official myth; is my memory wrong?
Also, it seems (to me) unlikely that since Malik “grew up” with and remembers the original BHO, that the clan doesn’t really think Zero is the son of the Kenyan. But it sure brings them a bit of fame, no doubt monies, and perhaps they’ve had pressure put on them in other ways as well. So, “yes, he’s our village boy, yessirree!”
If the dark boy, the original BHO, had never lived in Kenya, then their belief that Zero was actually the son of the Kenyan might be plausible, despite to complete lack of any resemblance. But....
Is there any evidence for the letter from the Kenyan about the wife and son other than “auntie” Zeituni’s words?