As First Lady Michelle Obama is paying a visit to Morocco this June 27-29 part of the Let Girls Learn initiative she is spearheading, the U.S. government announced on Tuesday new investments to promote girls’ education in the North African country. WHILE WE APPLAUD First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts and the effort of the Peace Corps volunteers and trainees to resolve these issues, it is important for all involved, and this includes the Liberian government and its stakeholders, particularly, the USAID, to go beyond the rhetoric and beyond the promises by ensuring that the environment for learning is accessible for all. Actresses Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto also made appearances alongside Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama for the event.
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In partnership with the Moroccan Government, the MCC investment is expected to benefit about 100,000 students, including 50,000 adolescent girls through activities that will address the particular learning needs of adolescent girls.
The Obama girls landed in Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday night as part of a six-day trip to promote education in Africa. Also on the docket for the family’s trip is discussion of $400,000 in funding from USAID that will go towards the construction of five dormitories for girls.
“Every single person’s story is different”, said Streep, who advised the young women never to give up and said she was the first in her family to get a university education.
“We have to change those notions that girls are only valuable for their reproductive capacity or their ability to do manual labor”, Obama said, adding that 62 million girls worldwide do not have access to education for an array of reasons, from a lack of resources to cultural norms.
But the same study said the rate of school attendance among girls of 7-12 years old had risen from 78 per cent in 2004 to 94 percent in 2014. She visited a local leadership camp for girls to encourage the young women there to stay in school.
While the first daughters of the United States are not quite the same as royalty elsewhere, Sasha and Malia Obama did take part in some mixing and mingling with a true princess on Monday in Morocco. But together, these young girls have learned to value themselves and gain strength from their parents and teachers who have supported them and pushed them to succeed in school. “And then, when you do all that, I want you to continue to be the leaders that you are and come back to your communities, and find other girls just like you who are working and striving – and they need your support”.
According to an Executive Mansion release, President Sirleaf held a closed door meeting with Mrs. Obama at the Roberts International Airport where she was formally welcome to Liberia by the Liberian leader.
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They will fly to Spain on Thursday and return to Washington by Friday.
