Exciting enough, for the first time in 13 years, i get to experience freedom. Access and freedom to me mean dont mean the same thing to you. Access to similarly insignificant things, like accessing the shopping mall, accessing the toilet, accessing Public Transportation that are inclusive of people like me. I get to experience it here in america after 13 years. [applause] grace i represent a Huge Community of persons with disabilities who do not have bases, who do not have voices faces, who do not have voices. After so many years, what inclusion and access should be for them, and i am going back to africa to make sure that dream becomes a reality for africans with disabilities. [applause] grace it has become a platform for inspiration for young emerging africans, leaders like you. We come from different countries, from different centers. Yes, united with a common goal for a new africa. [applause] grace that is why, in my song i say yes we can. Sure we can. Change africa. We represent a network of Young African leaders, emerging like soldiers. Fearlessly positioned to declare it will happen. So let the philosophers and great minds of this world get ready. To learn from the wisdom of africa. [applause] grace and you, you represent that africa. The last six weeks have been inspiring and useful, right . The last six weeks have been inspiring and useful. For the work that we have ahead. So, we commit ourselves to going back and becoming the solution that our continent needs. Do you believe that . , over the past two weeks president barack obama has let 10 more leaders discuss the change that we know africa needs. Today, he is right here in our midst. [applause] grace standing up as Young African leaders to become that change that our continent deserves. One man has shown with his life and character that change and greatness is possible if only you try. Are you ready to try . He inspires hope, not just for the youth of america but for the next generation of World Leaders and that is why he created the Young AfricanLeadership Initiative that we all represent today. His vision for us is not just to change africa, but to form a foundation of leaders that are ready to take over the borders. So join me this morning as we welcome the president. Of the United States of America Barack obama [applause] pres. Obama thank you. Hello everybody. [applause] [cheering] pres. Obama thank you everybody sit down, thank you so much. This is a good crowd here. First of all, can everybody please give grace another great round of applause . [applause] pres. Obama not only does she do incredibly inspiring work in nigeria but i have to say following grace is a little bit like following michelle. She is so good, you kind of feel bad when you are walking out because you are thinking im not going to be that good. She is just one example of the incredible talent in this room. To all of you, i know you have been here in the United States for a few weeks but let me say on behalf of the American People welcome to the United States and we are thrilled to have you here. [applause] pres. Obama your visit comes at a perfect time. Yes, soon it is my birthday but that is not the main reason its the perfect time. The main reason is because, as many as you know, i returned from africa. It was my fourth trip to subsaharan africa, more than any other u. S. President and i was proud to be the first u. S. President to visit kenya. The first to visit ethiopia, the first to address the african union, which was a great honor. [applause] pres. Obama the reason ive devoted so much energy to our work with the continent is as i said last week. Even as africa continues to confront many challenges, africa is on the move. It is one of the Fastest Growing regions in the world africas middle class is projected to grow to more than one billion consumers, with hundreds of millions of mobile phones and surging access to the internet, africans are beginning to leapfrog old cap elegies old technologies. They have begun to restore technology and increase health fighting hiv. Millions have been lifted from extreme poverty. This is extraordinary progress, and young people like you are driving so much of this progress. Africa is the youngest continent. I saw the power of youth on my trip. In kenya richard helped build yes youth camp, one of the most Prominent Civil Society groups with one million members. The global average Partnership Summit in nairobi, they spoke about how they so the Brilliant Footsteps Academy in nigeria which uses education to fight religious extremism and provide more opportunities for young muslim youth. I met judith, and entrepreneur who cofounded a nonprofit that trains young women living in the slums of nairobi and Computer Programming and rapid design and helps place them in tech jobs. I saw the talent of young people all across the continent and as president i want to make sure that even as we are working with government we are working to empower junk africans like all of you. Thats quite i launched the Young AfricanLeaders Initiative to help increase access. [applause] to help you access the resources and training and networks you need to become the next generation of leaders in all areas in Civil Society and business and government. And the response has been overwhelming. So far, more than 140,000 young people across africa have joined our network. Junk africans with your ideas can connect with each other and collaborate and Work Together to put their plans of action Young Africans with new ideas can connect with each other and collaborate. I am proud of all of you and proud that we have made some much progress after a few years. [applause] pres. Obama last year i said we would launch a new set of tools for our network. We have more than 30 online lessons available on everything from public speaking to how to write a business plan. Mentoring, new ways to Network Across africa and the world, new training sessions, meetings with experts on how to launch a startup, and we are launching three new online mandela fellow washington Fellowship Institute courses, so that all members of the network can access the great ideas you have been sharing. Last year i said we would create Regional Leadership Centers across africa to provide skills, it works of opportunity to even more Young African leaders. In kenya, i got a chance to visit the Regional Leadership Center in nairobi and we opened a new center and two more will be open by the end of the year in pretoria and by car bakar. [applause] pres. Obama last year i said we would do even more to support young entrepreneurs with grants to help you start a business and start. New training for thousands of inspiring hospira doors in small towns and rural areas. The global on for an are shipped summit in nairobi, i announce we secured more than 1 billion in new commitments from banks and philanthropists. The support from emerging entrepreneurs around the world including in africa with half the money going to support women and young people. [applause] pres. Obama last year i welcomed a first class of mandela fellows, this year the response was overwhelming again with nearly 30,000 applications. Today i am honored to welcome the second ellas class fell ows class. We are on track to expanded to 100,000 fellows next year. [applause] pres. Obama i know you have been busy. Over the past few weeks schools and businesses across america you have been taking courses, developing skills you need to make ideas a reality. So that you are able to continue the great work you are already doing and take it to the next level. Wheres brian . There he is right there. [applause] pres. Obama so, brian uses music to advocate against things like genderbased violence and educate use on hiv aids. So while in the u. S. He has learned about our health care system, met the founder of an american hiv organization and plans to start a record label for music about social change. We are proud to be your partner. [applause] pres. Obama or we have gadiva. There she is. So, helps lead a Media Campaign to stop the spread of ebola. With the management skills she gained at Wagner College she wants to work on improving the lives of women and girls back home in guinea. We are proud to have you. [applause] pres. Obama or we have jameel are jamila of uganda. [applause] are you posing . Shes posing. She is not a fashion model, she started a doortodoor Laundry Company to employ more youth and teach them entrepreneurial skills and she hopes to share what she learned at Dartmouth University to meet her goal of gaining 1000 youth to work in or run their own business. We are proud to be your partner. So that is just a sampling of the incredible progress being done by fellows all across africa. This program will help all of you make a real difference back home. But my partner from senegal so fatu wrote me a letter and she says if the real value is for young people to learn from others, maybe we should be sending Young Americans to africa also. And she made the point not to just help poor communities but to learn from other societies with humility. Which i thought is absolutely true. I have good news. From now on, we will give americans and opportunity next summer. Up to 80 american Young Leaders will join. [applause] pres. Obama 80 Young American leaders will join and go to africa to learn from you in your countries. [applause] pres. Obama you are going to have to look after them when theyre there. Some good places, but not have too much fun, you are doing work while there. So these connections and partnerships and friendships forged an understanding that brings our peoples closer together. After six weeks, many of you are official Texas Longhorns or notre dame fighting irish. You have shared african cooking with your american friends. But you have also had a burger and a hot dog at the fourth of july celebration. I am told many of you went bowling for the first time. It didnt go that well. There were a few strikes. By the way, there was at least one marriage that came out of last years class. [applause] pres. Obama so who knows what we will have in here. So as your time in america comes to a close, i want you to remove her that this is just the beginning and we just started this. The truth is it that our greatest challenges, whether it is Inclusive Development or confronting terrorism dealing with conflict, Climate Change, increasing womens rights childrens rights, these are bigger than any one nation or one continent. Our hope is that 10, 15, 20 years from now when you have gone on to be majors in government or leaders in business were pioneers of social change, that you will still be connecting with each other. That you will still be learning from each other. And that together, you will be reaching back and helping the next generation. That you will not only be making a difference in your own countries, but you will be the foundation of a new generation of global leadership. A generation that will be working together across borders to make the world safer and more prosperous and peaceful and just. That is my hope for you. We brought you here because we benefit from your leadership. We are counting on you to Work Together to make sure you are reaching back to those who will be coming behind you. We could not be more proud of you. Let me take some questions. Thank you very much. All right, so i think you have been told how this works. I will just repeat it. I am just going to call on many people as possible. When i call on you, introduce yourself, tell me what country youre from, make your question relatively short so that we can get in as many questions as possible. I will go boy, girl, boy, girl, make sure it is fair. Ok. Let me see who i will start off with. This is such a goodlooking group. I will start with this young lady right here. Right in the middle. There you go. With the african earings. [laughter] very appropriate. I am from kenya. My question is, i am curious how you keep the balance in terms of your background as an africanamerican, and the kinds of struggles you have had to get here. And michelle obama, she is amazing. As a father and a husband how do you keep a balance . President obama first of all, i would not be who i was without michelle. She is my partner. [applause] that is true professionally but that is true in terms of my character and who i am. One of the things im very proud of is the fact that i married someone who is strong and counted and opinionated and my equal. Part of the reason that is so important to me is because she is the role model now for my daughters. Melia and or have expectations of being strong and talented and being treated as an equal by their partners as they get older. Much older. [laughter] the balance is not always perfect. I have written about this. One of the things that my generation but now even more your generation has to manage is if you have two people working in the house outside the home how do you manage that in a way that we are both good parents both able to succeed in our work, and what michelle and i found is that we had to recognize that, at any given point in our careers one person might sacrifice a little bit. Maybe this was a time she really had to focus on something so i had to cover for her more. There were times i has i was not able to do something and she had to handle things more. I am not suggesting it has been completely. I am the first one to acknowledge she has probably made more sacrifices given the nature of a political career that i have. But what ive learned from her is that if she does not feel respected and fulfilled then i will end up being less successful, ultimately. That is something i think men in africa in particular, but men everywhere [laughter] i have spoken about this a lot. The best measure of how a country does economically in terms of development is, how does it treat its women . [applause] and as i said in a speech, a couple of the speeches i gave while i was in kenya and ethiopia if you are mistreating your women, then you are just holding yourself down. You may have a false sense of importance, but ultimately, you do not benefit if women are being discriminated against. That means your family will have less income. If they are not educated, it means your children are less like a to be welleducated. Typically, the mother is the first educator of a child. If they see you disrespecting your wife, then what lesson is not just your girls but what lesson are your sons learning from you . This is something that i really think everybody, especially the young generation of african men, have to learn and internalize. I want to see more men creating pressure among themselves. If you see a friend of yours, a classmate, one of your buddies abusing a woman, you have to say something. You have to ostracize them and say that is not acceptable. Ultimately, this is not just an issue of laws, though here in the United States, were still fighting for equal pay for equal work and that women have the same opportunities as men. It is also a matter of culture and what our expectations are. Your generation is going to have to change expectations. You do not lift yourself up and holding somebody else down. That is especially true within your own family and the people your closest to. [applause] all right. That young man right there with the striped shirt. Yes, you. Thank you, mr. President. Im from rwanda. President obama you have a little cheering section here. [laughter] mr. President , there is a big problem. Research showed africa would be the most continental Climate Change. Africa is the confident responsible for introducing the Greenhouse Gases and global warming. Africa was the last continent to get funding. My question is to ask you to empower africa. Thank you. President obama first of all, this generation has to understand that Climate Change is going to be one of the Critical Issues you face. Oftentimes, you will hear people say, well, Environmental Issues, Climate Change, we do not have time to worry about that right now because we have much more urgent issues. We have to educate our children feed people. We have to develop here maybe later, we can worry about Environmental Issues. I understand why a lot of african countries and poor countries in asia and latin america or other places would say that. Historically, that is basic to what the United States and developed countries do. The United States used to be terribly polluted. If you went to los angeles, it was like beijing is now. It was very hard to breathe if you ran outside. You had lakes and rivers so polluted that one of them caught fire. I am serious. That is some pollution there. The same is true in london one london was first developing. During the Industrial Revolution because of all the coal being burned. Here is the problem. Whether it is fair or not the issue of Climate Chang