 At Obama's request, Helen Roberts committed to watching over and financially supporting the family that he had left behind, for as long as she remained in Nairobi.In 1959, Obama enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu as the university's first African foreign student.He initially lived across the street from the university at the Charles H. Atherton branch of the YMCA at 1810 University Avenue; public records from 1961 indicate he later had a residence two miles southeast of the university at 625 11th Avenue in the Kaimuki neighborhood.