For the most part, First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters have been a hit in South Africa on the first leg of their goodwill trip to Africa. They've read Dr. Seuss to local children, taken part in a community dance performance and met with Nelson Mandela.
Still, there was one outbreak of controversy during the junket: The UK Telegraph and other news outlets report that South Africa's President Jacob Zuma snubbed the First Lady by sending his prison minister to greet her at the airport. Zuma has also failed to schedule a direct meeting with the First Lady her during her stay.
Zuma's office has rejected the media's characterization of the incident as a "snub" noting the First Lady is not a head of state. Meanwhile, the Telegraph and other news organizations have noted that the First Lady rejected a 9 am meeting with Zuma Wednesday because of her own scheduling conflict. She did meet with one of Zuma's wives Tuesday.
But the trip, which caused some controversy before it even began, has mostly been a warm affair. The trip will wind down on Friday, when Obama and her family head to Botswana.
Below, we round up some of the highlights of the First Lady's Africa trip to promote leadership, education and HIV/AIDS awareness thus far:
• Nelson Mandela meeting: The First Lady on Tuesday night surprised many by announcing a previously unscheduled meeting with Mandela, South Africa's first black president and the country's best-known leader in the struggle against apartheid. The private meeting at Mandela's house made headlines as Mandela, 92, has rarely been seen in recent months following reports of his hospitalization in January.
• Another impromptu bout of dancing: Obama, whose dancing has made headlines back home, decided to dance along with the children at the community center Tuesday when the children were taking part in a song-and-dance performance. The First Lady and her family marched along with the children as they sang "We are Marching in the Light of God," according to the pool report.
• Daughters team up with mom to read Dr. Seuss: Daughters Sasha and Malia partnered with mom Tuesday to read "The Cat in the Hat" to young children at the Emthonjeni Community Center located in a township of Johannesburg called Zandspruit, a shantytown.
The First Lady introduced the book as something she read to Sasha and Malia "all the time when they were little."
• Delivering a speech on the fight against HIV-AIDS:
On Wednesday, the First Lady addressed HIV-AIDS during a nationally televised speech at a church in Soweto--the township where a landmark anti-apartheid uprising took place in 1976--attended by female leaders from across the country. "You can be the generation that ends HIV-AIDS in our time," Obama said. "The generation that fights not just the disease but the stigma of the disease. The generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable and treatable and should never be a source of shame."
On Wednesday, the First Lady addressed HIV-AIDS during a nationally televised speech at a church in Soweto--the township where a landmark anti-apartheid uprising took place in 1976--attended by female leaders from across the country. "You can be the generation that ends HIV-AIDS in our time," Obama said. "The generation that fights not just the disease but the stigma of the disease. The generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable and treatable and should never be a source of shame."
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