President Obama's half-brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo holds a press conference prior to a book launch in Guangzhou, China, on Nov. 4, 2009. Ndesandjo, who has lived Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, has broken his silence and launched his debut novel. (Mike Clarke-AFP/Getty Images)

Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo is half-Jewish. He spent his childhood in Nairobi, Kenya with his Jewish American mother Ruth Nidesand, whose maiden name he adopted. Ndesandjo's father married his mother after divorcing Barack Obama's mother Stanley Ann Dunham. He met and married his Chinese wife in China where he has lived for seven years. He  moved to China after he lost his job in telecommunications and marketing in Sept. 2001 in the United States. "In Shenzhen, a booming southern city bordering Hong Kong, he began teaching English, giving piano lessons, learning Chinese and dedicating himself to helping orphans and underprivileged children." 

Ndesandjo is as accomplished academically as his half-brother Barack Obama --having "bachelor's degrees in physics and math from Brown University, a master's degree in physics from Stanford and an MBA from Emory. He is also an accomplished pianist, does Chinese calligraphy and has just finished reading the Chinese epic "The Dream of Red Mansions" in Mandarin."

"Speaking out publicly for the first time Wednesday, Ndesandjo made only a few references to his famous brother, saying: "We are family. I love my family, and we are in touch." He attended Obama's presidential inauguration in January, and he said he plans to see his brother when the president makes an official visit to Beijing this month. "

Ndesandjo worked on this autobiographical novel titled "Nairobi to Shenzhen: A Novel of Love in the East" for a decade, but his brother's victory spurred him to finish the 255 page book. He will be releasing an autobiography as a follow up to this novel, which the Washington Post calls, "an emotionally wrenching book about his search for identity and self."

Oh and by the way... his father, Barack Obama, Sr. was abusive towards Ndesandjo and his mother. "I remember times in my house when I would hear the screams, and I would hear my mother's pain," he said. "I was a child. . . . I could not protect her."

Ndesandjo credits Obama's election last year with allowing him to come to terms with his painful past and motivating him to finish his book.

In the 255-page novel, self-published through Aventine Press, Ndesandjo's character is called David. The author depicts his Kenyan father as an abusive alcoholic who beats David and David's Jewish American mother. He makes no reference to his brother Barack.

Fifteen percent of the proceeds from his debut novel are going to his charity "Help the Kids."