FAREWELL TO A PHENOMENAL WOMAN - MICHELLE OBAMA

                                                                         
Prior to 2007/ 2008, I had never heard of the name OBAMA. I was not really conversant with world politics. An excuse I tend to give was that - I was too preoccupied with Nigeria's politics.

I am a huge fan of Hillary Clinton and I wanted the Democratic party nomination for Hillary. It will be great for a woman to become the  president of the most powerful country in the world- I remembered saying to myself.

One day in December 2007 my dad and I were talking about US politics and I told him, I wanted Hillary Clinton to get the nod for the Democratic party presidential primaries. He knows I am a huge fan of Oprah and he said 'Oprah endorsed the other candidate - Senator Barrack Obama'. That was the first time I heard his name. I remember looking disappointed as I asked my dad why Oprah would endorse a man over Hilary, aren't women supposed to support one another?

My dad said something to me then and over the years, I have come to understand the statement he made. My dad said 'When someone like Oprah is asked to choose between supporting one candidate from either her gender or race - (and her gender and race are in minority), I guess the right call will be to choose race because men and women of her race stand to benefit if Obama becomes the president'  I remembered just shrugging. Suffice to say I switched allegiance to Obama because of Oprah. I saw Michelle on the campaign trail but never thought anything about her.

On the night of the election, when Obama walked to the stage to give his victory speech was the day I fell in love with Michelle, she oozed of class, charisma and elegance as she walked out holding the hand of her eldest child. Her smile looked genuine.

I love intelligent and successful women. Michelle ticked those boxes perfectly.

I remembered when she started the initiative to address the issue of obesity in schools and encouraging healthy eating amongst school children. I thought it was brave of her to speak out concerning such an issue. The truth is obesity was and is still a huge problem in America but parents can be overly sensitive when it comes to their children and I was expecting a backlash from the parents and schools, but I guess they were swayed by her charm. Her passion to put an end to obesity was questioned by feminists. They had other expectations for her and felt she was too much of a mum as opposed to being a career woman. Her support for homeless veterans and families of military men and women, which I believed was  noble of her, was questioned as well. She was described as a 'Feminist nightmare'.

Almost everything she did was questioned. She was called derogatory names, her physique was scrutinised. Is she a woman? Is she too strong or weak? Is she feminist enough? Is she an angry black woman? ......just to mention a few. Through all this name calling, Michelle rose and came out of the mud slugged at her looking pristine.                                          
Little did we know that she was living by a motto she was kind enough to share with us at the Democratic party convention that took place last year.
Our Motto is - When they go low, we go high.
                                                                               
She remained focused on what she felt were important issues to her. She attributed this to knowing herself and not listening to distractions. She brought a human side to the office of the First Lady. A human side like we had never seen before, a human side we could relate to.
She opened the doors of the white house to everyone irrespective of race or gender. Like her husband President Obama said about her in his final farewell speech, 'You made the white house a place that belonged to everybody'

I watched in awe and admiration, the video of her 2015 University of Tuskegee commencement speech, She spoke about how she dealt with all the name-calling, how she declined to conform to other people's expectations of her by just being true to herself.

In my opinion, Michelle Obama lived her life in the public eye and still managed to live in her TRUTH.



She laughed when she wanted to, she joked about her husband, herself and even added her children to the mix. She danced, sang, rapped when she wanted to. People looked forward to her interviews on talk shows across USA, because of her fun personality.

The partnership, friendship, mutual respect and love Barrack and Michelle Obama is admirable.

Dear Michelle Obama,
In your  final speech as First lady at this year's School Counsellor of the Year,  you asked 'I hope I have made you all proud'?
I speak for myself and say that I am proud of you, your works and achievements.

Your influence has gone beyond the shores of America and people like me who live miles away have felt your impact.

Reiterating what Oprah said to you at the United State of Women Summit 2016 'The way you handled this office, the way you carried and presented yourself to the women and men of United States reminds me of a line from Maya's book - you make me proud to spell my name WOMAN

I wish you all the best as you start the next chapter of your life.

Farewell Ma'am!!!