Soweto – Visiting US First Lady Michelle Obama will spend the third day of her visit inspiring a new generation of women leaders in Soweto.<\/p>\n
She is set to address a conference attended by over 75 women aged 16 to 30, who are playing leadership roles across the continent. The women are taking part in the two-day meeting \u2013 the Young African Women Leaders Forum.<\/p>\n
Obama is set to deliver a keynote address around 10am at Regina Mundi Church in Soweto, one of the many churches that became political gathering spots during the anti-apartheid struggle.<\/p>\n
The First Lady has a packed schedule that includes a trip to the memorial for Hector Pieterson, also in Soweto. Pieterson was killed at the age of 12 during the Soweto uprising in 1976.<\/p>\n
The church is a hive of activity with delegates arriving, including National Freedom Party leader Zanele Magwaza-Msibi; the Democratic Alliance\u2019s Lindiwe Mazibuko; Soweto business mogul Richard Maponya; former Miss SA and businesswoman Basetsana Khumalo; and current Miss SA Bokang Montjane.<\/p>\n
Former President Nelson Mandela\u2019s wife Graca Machel is also expected to arrive.<\/p>\n
Media, both local and international, braved the chilly winter morning and started arriving from as early as 4am for security checks. Delegates started trickling in from 6am. <\/p>\n
A heavy police presence could be seen outside the church, with dozens of metro police cars and police parked at various entry points, as well as American private security.<\/p>\n
Obama is loved by black women everywhere for her example as an ivy-league educated, well accomplished attorney, who is also a devoted wife, doting mom, and caring daughter to her own mother.<\/p>\n
“[She] not only has brains but power, confidence and humility \u2013 now that\u2019s an awesome combination,\u201d said Relebogile Mutaung, who is attending the event.<\/p>\n
“She is a woman that encompasses all the attributes of an intelligent, strong, hard working, woman,\u201d Zimbabwean-born Brendah Nyakudya told BuaNews.<\/p>\n
Nyakudya took the lead by building schools in 2005 after reading some disturbing research that showed that children who never went to preschool had a higher probability of actually dropping out of school at a later stage.<\/p>\n
“Today we have three sponsored schools where children are not only educated but clothed and fed as well,\u201d Nyakudya said. – BuaNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Soweto – Visiting US First Lady Michelle Obama will spend the third day of her visit inspiring a new generation of women leaders in Soweto. She is set to address a conference attended by over 75 women aged 16 to 30, who are playing leadership roles across the continent. The women are taking part in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[777,204],"class_list":{"0":"post-2535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-michelle-obama","8":"tag-soweto","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2536,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions\/2536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}