WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama is fond of saying there is no magic to her being first lady.
She didn’t come from a wealthy or well-connected family. She came from the South Side of Chicago and is a descendant of slaves. But she says it is a passion for an education that she and President Barack Obama shared and a willingness to work hard that helped them become successful.
It’s a message that young leaders in Africa soon will hear when Michelle Obama makes her second solo trip abroad as first lady, visiting South Africa and Botswana this week.
“In so many ways, I see myself in you all. And I want you to see yourselves in me,” she recently told Washington high school students, hoping to inspire them with her personal story.
The week-long visit, beginning with the first lady’s arrival Monday in Johannesburg, is intended to improve relations between the U.S. and Africa and promote youth engagement, education, health and wellness. In the centerpiece speech of the trip, she will appear Wednesday before a U.S.-sponsored forum of young women leaders from sub-Saharan Africa.
Michelle Obama will be joined by her daughters, Malia and Sasha, as well as her mother, Marian Robinson, and a niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson. Her family will join her on most outings.
It was during her first solo trip outside the U.S., to Mexico in April 2010, that the first lady started an effort to encourage young people to become involved in their communities and countries and not shy away from trying to solve persistent global problems.
The youth population outside the U.S. is growing fast, with young people ages 15 to 24 making up 20 percent of the world’s population.
“The fact is is that responsibility for meeting the defining challenges of our time will soon fall to all of you,” Michelle Obama told thousands of university students in Mexico City. “Soon, the world will be looking to your generation to make the discoveries and to build the industries that will fuel our prosperity and ensure our well-being for decades to come.”
That message is likely to resonate in South Africa, where two of three residents are younger than 30, said Jennifer Cooke, an Africa scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Botswana is a regular stop for U.S. officials. Well-governed, it is considered one of Africa’s best-functioning democracies, Cooke said.
Many of the stops on Michelle Obama’s trip will highlight South Africa’s past under apartheid. She will also pay tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for his role in the anti-apartheid movement and later became South Africa’s first elected black president.
First lady’s Africa itinerary
Details of Michelle Obama’s trip:
Tuesday: Meets with South African President Jacob Zuma’s wife, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, in Pretoria; visits the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Apar theid Museum in Johannesburg.
Wednesday: Obama delivers keynote address to a U.S.-sponsored Young African Women Leaders Forum in Soweto.
Thursday: Meets with U.S. consulate employees in Cape Town; visits Robben Island, where former President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned; speaks with young people attending a workshop at the University of Cape Town.
Friday: Meets with Botswanan President Ian Khama; visits the Botswana Children’s Clinic Center of Excellence Teen Club.
Saturday: Meets with U.S. Embassy employees in Gaborone; family safari.
The Washington Post
