US Lirst Lady tasks South African youth on transformation

US First Lady tasks South African youth on transformation
Funke Atohengbe, Pretoria

US First Lady, Michelle Obama says today’s generation has the ability to transform the world  in the way that struggle icons and former South African President, Nelson Mandela and late ANC leader, Walter Sisulu have.

Mrs Obama said, while addressing hundreds of young people and women at the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto on Wednesday, that the youth could be a generation that holds leaders accountable for open, honest government at every level.

Challenge

She charged the masses, both black and white, to gather strength from the country's history of the liberation struggle to fight the ills that the country now faces.

Mrs Obama said that the youth could be the generation that ends HIV and AIDs currently ravaging the society, and the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease.

Obama, who is a strong advocate for human rights, touched on South Africa's history, the importance of Women's Day and the contributions of struggle icons such as the late Albertina Sisulu.

Tribute

She paid tribute to the hundreds of school children who died in the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Mrs Obama declared that it was because of the selfless people who died in the country for freedom that she was standing there as the first lady of the United States of America.

"And all of you, the young people of today, are the heirs of this blood, sweat, sacrifice and love. So the question today is, what will you make of that inheritance?"

Her speech also touched on other topics such as race, discrimination, democracy, and development.

Making a difference

The US first lady stated that it did not take much for one to make a difference and encouraged the youth to end the perception, that women are second class citizens.

Obama noted that with determination and the right attitude, the youth could assume leadership roles in the society.

"If anyone ever tells you that you shouldn't or you can't, then I want you to say with one voice - the voice of a generation - you tell them, 'Yes, we can'", she stressed.

Mrs. Obama will spend the rest of the day visiting landmarks of the anti-apartheid struggle area with her mother and her two daughters.

Ekata