WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) – U.S. first lady Jill Biden opened a five-day, two-nation visit to Africa on Wednesday when she will focus on empowering women and youth and highlighting food insecurity in the Horn of Africa region.
Dancers representing Namibia’s various ethnic groups, some dressed in red, white and blue, others in bright pink, greeted him with singing and dancing. The country has not hosted a high-level US official since 1996. The first lady’s trip is part of President Joe Biden’s commitment to expand US engagement with the fast-growing region.
He and Monica Geingos, Namibia’s first lady, hugged on the tarmac before Jill Biden was greeted by US and Namibian diplomatic and government officials. He was accompanied by his granddaughter Naomi Biden.
His first stop after arriving was a 45-minute drive south of the capital Windhoek, to lay a wreath at Heroes’ Acre, Namibia’s official war memorial. He also met with President Hage Geingob and his wife at the State House.
This is Jill Biden’s sixth time in Africa, but her first visit as the first lady. He followed in the footsteps of his forefathers, who all traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in the name of trying to help the good will of the United States.
During the five days split between Namibia, located along the Atlantic coast in southern Africa, and Kenya, in the east, Jill Biden will focus on the empowerment of women and young people, and highlight food insecurity in the Horn of Africa caused by drought, Russia’s . the war in Ukraine and other factors.
As she left Washington on Tuesday, the first lady declared, “We have a lot to do.”
Africa is the fastest growing and youngest region in the world, according to the White House, which says 1 in every 4 people in the world will be African by 2050.
The White House is withholding specific details about the first lady’s activities in each country, citing security concerns.
Jill Biden previously visited Africa in 2010, 2011, twice in 2014 and once in 2016, all while Joe Biden was US vice president. The two travelers were with him.
This time, he traveled to Africa without the president as he completed a trip to Poland to mark the anniversary of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Patricia Nixon was the first woman to travel to Africa alone. He was President Richard Nixon’s “personal representative” to Liberia, Ghana and the Ivory Coast in 1972. He spoke to legislatures and met with African leaders about US policy toward what is now Zimbabwe, and human rights in South Africa, according to National First Lady Library.
What the first ladies did on their visit to Africa:
Mrs. Trump visited for the first time in 2018, when she spent five days as the first lady stopping in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt to promote US development aid and education, cradle babies and highlight the preservation of animals and history.
They traveled without President Donald Trump, who denied making derogatory comments about African countries.
She runs a baby clinic in Ghana. They also learned about Africa’s slave past during a tour of Cape Coast Castle, a former slave facility on the coast of Ghana. He spent time inside a cramped dungeon once used to house male slaves and walked through the “Door of No Return”, from where slaves were sent to the New World.
In Malawi, the former model visited indoor and outdoor classrooms, observed lessons and watched students play soccer with balls donated from the US. He highlighted the conservation of elephants in Nairobi National Park in Kenya. He closed his tour of Egypt by visiting the pyramids and the Great Sphinx to highlight US-backed preservation efforts there.
Mrs. Obama traveled 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 a week-long trip by America’s Black first lady was a 30-minute speech at a US-sponsored leadership conference at a church in the township of Soweto. The church became a popular refuge when South Africans fought against apartheid, the government-imposed segregation system that has now been abolished.
He was accompanied by his daughters, Malia and Sasha; his mother, Marian Robinson; and nieces and nephews. Mrs. Obama also invited her children to visit former South African President Nelson Mandela at his home.
Mrs. Obama made her second solo visit to Africa in June 2016, the last year of the Obama administration. In Liberia and Morocco, she promoted the “Let the Children Learn” initiative to encourage developing countries to educate girls.
He also visited Ghana with President Barack Obama in 2009, his first year in office.
Mrs. Bush traveled to Africa five times by herself between 2005 and 2007 during President George W. Bush’s second term, in addition to the two trips she took with him.
His travels have mostly focused on promoting the administration’s efforts to combat the spread of HIV, as well as malaria. He also emphasized literacy, drug prevention and national parks. During one stop in South Africa, she praised HIV-positive mothers for working to remove the stigma associated with the disease. He spoke openly to African women about controlling their sex lives.
Mrs. Bush also announced millions of dollars in US funding for programs to prevent the spread of AIDS and mosquito-borne malaria. In Mozambique, they cover their faces with white masks to help illustrate the benefits of spraying insecticides at home to fight malaria. He also put out a mosquito net.
He was accompanied by one or two twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.
Hillary Clinton took her 17-year-old daughter, Chelsea, on a two-week visit in March 1997 to Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and Eritrea.
The first woman opens her journey on Goree Island in Senegal, the center of the Atlantic slave trade for 300 years. Mrs. Clinton has said she wanted to see the island because of its significance for Black Americans. He discussed violent crime in South Africa, along with the need to improve education for blacks in a country that had recently abolished apartheid’s policy of racial segregation.
Mrs. Clinton returned in 1998 during President Bill Clinton’s first visit to Africa; it was also the first visit to the continent by a US president in 20 years.
The White House is embarking on a 12-day tour of Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana and Senegal as a way to encourage trade and investment in Africa.