Jill Biden headed for Africa on Tuesday, February 21, first stop Namibia, declaring as she departed Washington that she had “a lot to accomplish” during a five-day visit focused on empowering women and young people and addressing food insecurity.
The first lady’s visit to Namibia and Kenya is part of a push by the United States to step up engagement with Africa as a counterweight to China’s influence on the continent.
Jill, who teaches English and writing at a community college, said she dashed home from class with only an hour to spare before she needed to depart on the trip. She headed out a day before her husband gets back from his surprise trip to Ukraine and a scheduled visit to Poland.
“This whole trip will be exciting and we have a lot to accomplish,” she said. Granddaughter Naomi Biden is accompanying the first lady on the trip.
President Joe Biden told African leaders who came to Washington for a summit last year that the U.S. is “all in” on the continent’s future and announced that he, his wife, the vice president and several members of his Cabinet would travel to Africa this year. He joked that the leaders would get tired of hosting everyone.
Jill Biden will be the third U.S. official to visit Africa this year, following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
It’s Jill Biden’s sixth time in Africa, but her first trip as first lady. She is following in the footsteps of her recent predecessors, who all made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean in the name of trying to help foster goodwill toward the United States. “We have a lot to accomplish,” she said Tuesday before departing Washington.
Africa is the fastest-growing and youngest region in the world, according to the White House, which says 1 of every 4 people in the world will be African by 2050.
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Jill Biden previously visited Africa in 2010, 2011, twice in 2014 and once in 2016, all during her husband’s service as U.S. vice president. Two of those trips were with him. This time, she is traveling to Africa without the president, who was wrapping up a trip to Poland to mark Friday’s anniversary of Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine. She brought along her granddaughter Naomi Biden.
U.S. first-lady trips to Africa
MELANIA TRUMP
Mrs. Trump visited for the first time in 2018, when she spent five days as first lady stopping in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt to promote U.S. developmental aid and education, cradle babies and highlight animal and historic preservation. She traveled without President Donald Trump, who had denied making disparaging comments about African countries.
She opened the trip at an infant clinic in Ghana. She also learned about Africa’s slave past during a tour of Cape Coast Castle, a former slave holding facility on the Ghanaian coast. She spent time inside the cramped dungeon once used to house male slaves and walked through the “Door of No Return,” from which the slaves were shipped to the New World.
In Malawi, the former model toured indoor and outdoor classrooms, observed lessons and watched students play soccer with U.S.-donated balls. She highlighted elephant preservation at Nairobi National Park in Kenya. She closed the tour in Egypt by touring the pyramids and the Great Sphinx to highlight U.S.-supported preservation efforts there.
MICHELLE OBAMA
Mrs. Obama went to South Africa and Botswana on a goodwill mission in the summer of 2011 to promote youth leadership, education and HIV and AIDS awareness.
The centerpiece of the weeklong trip by America’s first Black first lady was a 30-minute speech at a U.S.-sponsored leadership conference at a church in Soweto township. The church became a popular refuge during the South African people’s fight against apartheid, the now-abolished system of government-imposed segregation.
She was accompanied by her daughters, Malia and Sasha; her mother, Marian Robinson; and a niece and nephew. Mrs. Obama also took her daughters to visit with former South African President Nelson Mandela at his home.
Mrs. Obama made a second solo visit to Africa in June 2016, the final year of the Obama administration. In Liberia and Morocco, she promoted her “Let Girls Learn” initiative to encourage developing countries to educate girls. She also visited Ghana with President Barack Obama in 2009, his first year in office.
LAURA BUSH
Mrs. Bush traveled to Africa five times on her own between 2005 and 2007 during President George W. Bush’s second term, in addition to two trips she took with him.
Her trips mostly focused on promoting the administration’s efforts to combat the spread of HIV, as well as malaria. She also emphasized literacy, drug prevention and national parks. During one stop in South Africa, she praised HIV-positive mothers for working to erase the stigma associated with the disease. She spoke openly with African women about taking control of their sex lives.
Mrs. Bush also announced millions of dollars in U.S. funding for programs to stem the spread of AIDS and mosquito-borne malaria. In Mozambique, she covered her face with a white mask to help illustrate the benefits of spraying homes with insecticides to combat malaria. She also passed out mosquito nets. She was accompanied on these trips by one or both of her twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.
READ ALSO: Opinion: Dear Black America, pay attention to Africa – Patrick Washington
HILLARY CLINTON
Hillary Clinton took along her 17-year-old daughter, Chelsea, on her two-week visit in March 1997 to Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and Eritrea.
The first lady opened her journey at Goree Island in Senegal, a hub for the Atlantic slave trade for 300 years. Mrs. Clinton had said she wanted to see the island because of its significance to Black Americans. She discussed violent crime in South Africa, along with the need to improve education for Black people in a country that recently had abolished its apartheid policy of racial segregation.
Mrs. Clinton returned in 1998 when President Bill Clinton made his first visit to Africa; it was also the first visit to the continent by a U.S. president in 20 years. The White House billed the 12-day tour of Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana and Senegal as a way to encourage trade and investment in Africa.
PATRICIA NIXON
Patricia Nixon was the first U.S. first lady to travel to Africa on her own. She went as President Richard Nixon’s “personal representative” to Liberia, Ghana and the Ivory Coast in 1972.
She addressed legislative bodies and met with African leaders about U.S. policy toward the country now known as Zimbabwe, and human rights in South Africa, according to the National First Ladies’ Library.
Source: AP
Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
