For the first six years of his life Barack Obama lives with his mother in the United States, Hawaii and Seattle. On Hawaii, Obama's mother had an Indonesian man, Lolo Soetoro, who was studying there. In 1965 they married, and Lolo Soetoro became Obama's stepfather. Soon, however, Lolo's visa expired, and he had to return to Indonesia. Moments later, in October 1967, Obama's mother followed her husband and barack moved to Indonesia, at the age of six. 

The young Barack, known at that time under the name Barry, went to the Catholic primary school Santo Fransiskus Asisi. Barry had trouble with the Indonesian language, Ibu Is remembers. According to former classmates he was very quiet because he did not fully understand the language. One of the classmates says that Barry was being bullied because of his appearance. He was much bigger and heavier than the rest, and had curly hair. "But no one dared to fight with him. He had the stature of a bull, so we needed three children to fight with him.