HISTORIC VISIT TO AFRICA:

AMERICA’S First LADY, MELANIA TRUMP Shuns Nigeria, Visit Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt October 1st…Her office assures she’ll promote child welfare during extended solo international mission

*Looks forward to spreading the message of her “Be Best” child-welfare initiative throughout Africa

*Discussed her plans at a reception for the spouses of foreign leaders and others participating in the annual United Nations General Assembly

* “October 1st will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa”-MELANIA

BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, NEW YORK

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF UNITED STATES is set to visit Africa for the very first time. Based on her itinerary, Donald Trumps’ wife will be visiting few African countries without any schedule to stop over in Africa’s most populous black nation, Nigeria. Melania intends to use the African visit to promote child welfare during extended solo international mission.

Melania says she will promote child welfare in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt in October on her first extended solo international mission. The first lady discussed her plans few days ago at a reception for the spouses of foreign leaders and others participating in the annual U.N. General Assembly.

Her words: “October 1st will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa,” Mrs. Trump said during brief remarks to several dozen guests in a reception room in a building near U.N. headquarters.

She said she looks forward to spreading the message of her “Be Best” child-welfare initiative throughout Africa. She launched the campaign earlier this year to focus on overall child well-being, with an emphasis on opioid addiction and online behavior.

The countries on her itinerary have worked closely with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is helping organize the trip.

“Whether it is education, drug addiction, hunger, online safety or bullying, poverty or disease, it is too often children who are hit first, and hardest, across the globe,” Mrs. Trump said. “Each of us hails from a country with its own unique challenges, but I know in my heart we are united by our commitment to raising the next generation to be happy, healthy and morally responsible adults.”

The first ladies of Ghana, Malawi and Kenya attended the event and Mrs. Trump recognized each one individually. The first lady of Kenya accompanied her husband, President Uhuru Kenyatta, to the White House in August, and she and Mrs. Trump were able to meet separately from their spouses.

For the records, she offered no details on her activities in each country, and did not say when she would be returning to Washington.