Michelle Obama Takes NATO First Ladies To Chicago’s South Side

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Michelle Obama escorted five other first ladies around her South Side Chicago stomping grounds on Sunday while they were in town for the NATO summit.

The women toured the Gary Komer Youth Center, which features a gymnasium, dance studio and a theater, reports the Associated Press. The center provides tutoring, college preparation, training in culinary arts and horticulture for young people in the community, 90 percent of whom come from low-income households.

Obama, whose childhood home was about 1 mile from the center, led a tour that included Albanian first lady Liri Berisha, Croatian first lady Sanja Music Milanovic and Norwegian first lady Ingrid Schulerud.

“I brought them here because I am so proud of where I grew up, and I wanted to show everyone some of the wonderful things that are happening here on the South Side,” Obama said before the South Shore Drill Team performed a routine to Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town.”

Obama and Anne-Mette Rasmussen, wife of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, clapped and danced to the gospel singing of the Soul Children of Chicago and also sampled a strawberry basil vinaigrette salad dressing made at the center.

Valerie Trierweiler, the domestic partner of French President Francois Hollande, and Turkish first lady Hayrunnisa Gul spoke with children on a rooftop garden about the heirloom tomatoes and cimmarron lettuce they were growing.

The center provides state-of-the-art facilities for children growing up in the neighborhood.

“I grew up just like you,” Obama said to a group of black children. “Same background. My family didn’t have a lot of money growing up. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to college, and most of the folks in my neighborhood didn’t get a chance to go, either.”

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article courtesy of Eurweb.com