Shropshire Star

Singing schoolchildren welcome Melania Trump to Malawi

The remaining stops on the US first lady’s tour are Kenya and Egypt.

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Melania Trump arrives at Lilongwe International Airport in Malawi

Melania Trump has visited a school in Malawi, where the young children sang that they were so happy to see her.

The US first lady landed in the capital Lilongwe on Thursday morning after a six-hour flight from Ghana on the second stop of her five-day goodwill visit to Africa.

Melania Trump is greeted by Malawi first lady Gertrude Maseko and a flower girl as she arrives at Lilongwe International Airport
Melania Trump is greeted by a flower girl (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

She is focusing the trip on her interest in child welfare.

Mrs Trump received a joyous welcome upon her arrival at Kamuzu International Airport, with singing and dancing by a troupe of women and scores of schoolchildren waving African and Malawian flags.

She went directly to Chipala Primary School in Lilongwe, which receives education aid from the US Agency for International Development.

Malawi has received a total of 9.6 million textbooks in the past few years through a US-funded national reading programme.

Melania Trump watches children play football at Chipala Primary School  in Malawi
Mrs Trump watches children play football at Chipala Primary School (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Mrs Trump toured several classrooms and watched teachers carry out lessons to help the young students learn English and the Chichewa language.

All the classrooms were outdoors, with the young students sitting shoulder to shoulder in rows on the loose red dirt in their blue uniforms, girls in dresses with red collars and boys in collared shirts and shorts.

Melania Trump sits with a student during a language class
Melania Trump sits with a student during a language class (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The students welcomed Mrs Trump to the school by singing: “We are happy today to see you. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome all of you. We are happy today. We are happy to see you.”

Mrs Trump also plans to visit the State House to meet over tea with Malawi’s first lady Gertrude Mutharika.

Melania Trump boards a plane at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana
Mrs Trump gets ready to board a plane in Accra, Ghana (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The first ladies are expected to walk through the gardens and watch a traditional dance performance.

Mrs Trump opened her first extended solo international trip on Tuesday in Ghana.

Melania Trump at the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast, Ghana
The first lady at the Emintsimadze Palace in Cape Coast, Ghana (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The remaining stops on her tour are Kenya and Egypt.

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