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Michelle Obama begins three-nation trip with visit to Liberia to advocate for girls' education

 
First lady Michelle Obama meets with Peace Corps members in Kakata, Liberia, on Monday. Obama announced that USAID would begin work on programs to improve living conditions for women and girls in Liberia.
First lady Michelle Obama meets with Peace Corps members in Kakata, Liberia, on Monday. Obama announced that USAID would begin work on programs to improve living conditions for women and girls in Liberia.
Published June 28, 2016

Michelle Obama was greeted by traditional dancers wearing red, white and blue as she arrived on Monday in Liberia — 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.

In Monrovia, she was greeted by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected to lead an African nation, then traveled to the 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.

She also announced that USAID will begin training teachers and policymakers to prevent violence against women and girls, and 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. Obama 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," she 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, Obama was to participate in a panel discussion, moderated by actor Freida Pinto, with girls who have faced obstacles enrolling in school.

The second and third day of Obama's visit will be spent in Morocco, where she will participate in a televised conversation about girls' education with actor Meryl Streep and Pinto.

In Spain, the first lady will deliver a speech about girls' education and meet with Queen Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano.