(Headline USA) Jill Biden spent her time in Africa lecturing Africans on safe sex and condom use.
She praised young adults for learning about safe sex and dating practices.
Biden has been highlighting U.S.-backed efforts to empower these groups during a five-day, two-country visit to Africa this week.
“These are issues that really all people need to talk about and yet, somehow, they don’t, and the consequences of not talking about it are so dire,” Biden told dozens of young people after talking with them about safe sex, condom use and birth control at the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, a local youth empowerment event.
“So I love seeing the young people here.”
At a tent where young people were having networking-like conversations, they showed her a questionnaire they use to spur discussion. The first question: “What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?”
Biden laughed. “And this is the first time they’re meeting?” she asked.
A Shujaaz representative said such blunt propositions help teenagers and young adults overcome shyness, saying that it’s sometimes easier to ask strangers these types of questions.
“I’m surprised you don’t start with like, ‘What’s your biggest achievement?’ rather than, ‘I have a condom in my pocket,’” the first lady said.
The festival is a collaboration with MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which works with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to help teach young Kenyans how to avoid becoming infected with HIV, which causes AIDS.
Biden, who is on the fourth day of her five-day trip to Namibia and Kenya, has spent the week promoting HIV/AIDS education programs.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
