As Americans headed for the polls Tuesday, AllAfrica's Katy Gabel was monitoring the action at the home of Senator Barack Obama's family in the rural village of Kogelo in western Kenya. (Kenyan time is eight hours ahead of U.S. East Coast time.)

3.30 pm East Africa Time (EAT): A prayer service for Barack Obama is now underway in Kogelo. Prayers have been offered for Obama's maternal grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who died of cancer on Monday.

Dunham is often referred to here as "our grandmother" and at a press briefing from the Obama homestead, Malik Abango, Obama's half-brother, described her as "close" family.

Washington Ogonyo Ngede, bishop of the Power of Jesus Around the World church, claims Obama's success so far is a direct result of his prayers during Obama's 2006 visit to Kenya.

According to organizers, the service could "go on all night."

At the Obama Family Home - 'Schooling Must Go On'

1:36 pm EAT: Journalists are still barred from the Obama homestead, and are instead gathering outside the gates in anticipation of any news. Plans for press interviews or celebrations are unclear at this point.

At the Senator Obama Secondary School here, teachers say classes are scheduled as usual for tomorrow, with or without an Obama victory: "Education is an institution," said one teacher. After all, "we want more Obamas."

An interdenominational prayer service for peaceful elections in the U.S. (rumored to be organized by Prime Minister Raila Odinga) is scheduled to begin shortly at the Kogelo village dispensary site.