Michelle Obama dates Liberia to advocate for girls’ education

Michelle Obama has visited Liberia on the first stop of a three-nation tour promoting girls’ education around the world, the cause she plans to carry on after she leaves the White House in January. 

Her mother, Marian Robinson, and daughters Sasha and Malia came along for her latest foreign trip — Morocco and Spain are also on the five-day itinerary — during which she will meet with officials and organizations that support Let Girls Learn, an initiative aimed at improving living conditions for the millions of girls worldwide who are not enrolled in school. 

She arrived at the airport near the capital city of Monrovia on Monday and met with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected to lead an African nation, then traveled to city of Kakata to visit a Peace Corps facility — and hail the full return of the U.S. volunteer service to Liberia following the end of the recent Ebola crisis. 

Mrs Obama also announced that USAID will begin training teachers and policymakers to prevent violence against women and girls, and she highlighted other federal programs — a $6.2 million project to reduce child labor in Liberia’s rubber- growing areas, and a $20 million child-nutrition program that gives grade-school girls a monthly take-home ratio of food if they maintain a good school attendance record. 

She also planned to spotlight “second-chance” schools supported by the U.S. government that allow girls who were raped or impregnated to finish their educations. 

“I am thrilled that we are making these new investments in adolescent girls’ education and deepening our partnership with the Government of Liberia,” Mrs Obama said in a statement. 

“These girls are so bright and so eager to learn, and these investments will help them build the knowledge and skills they need to provide for themselves and their families and contribute fully to their communities and their country.” 

Also in Liberia, Mrs Obama will participate in a panel discussion, moderated by actress Freida Pinto, with girls who have faced obstacles enrolling in school. 

The second and third day of Mrs Obama’s visit will be spent in Morocco, where she will participate in a televised conversation about girls’ education with Meryl Streep and Pinto. On the final leg of her trip, the first lady will deliver a speech about girls’ education in Madrid and meet with the queen of Spain, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano. It will be Obama’s second visit to Spain. (The president will make his first official trip there next month, to discuss national security and the NATO alliance.) 

The first lady’s 2010 vacation trip to Madrid drew criticism because of an economic downturn back home.