Michelle Obama and Desmond Tutu Show Kids How to Stay Healthy
The first lady and archbishop do push-ups and play soccer to engage youngsters.
June 23, 2011— -- First lady Michelle Obama did some push-ups and kicked around soccer balls alongside Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu as she closed out her visit to South Africa and prepared to leave for neighboring Botswana.
Tutu, who turns 80 this October, joined Obama at the new Cape Town Stadium, where the World Cup soccer tournament was held last year.
When Tutu introduced the first lady, he announced that she was a VIP, but then he also told each of the children in attendance that they were all VSPs, which the kids rightly guessed meant "very special persons."
The first lady said her co-host, a famed leader in the fight for racial equality in South Africa, was a special man.
"Well, Archbishop Tutu, I think you're a VSP, too," she said, laughing. "You guys are going to show us some soccer moves. ... Are you ready to? We might show you our moves."
Before the drills, the first lady urged the dozens of children to make safe, healthy choices.
"In order to be a VSP, you've got to be what? A VHP -- a 'very healthy person.' Right?" she asked. "Which means you've got to have the knowledge and the internal wisdom to make sure you're taking care of yourself.
"It's hard to have an impact if you're not in the best condition possible," she said.
Obama also spoke to a group of children at the University of Cape Town, where she told the youngsters that they, too, could go to college and make an impact.
"I wanted you to see that the students here are really not that different from all of you," she said. "I wanted you to realize that you can fit in here, too."
One child asked what the first lady's favorite food was.
"If I picked one favorite, favorite food, it's French fries, OK? It's French fries. I can't stop eating them," she said, admitting they are not the healthiest choice. "But eat your vegetables. And exercise."
Obama spent part of the day touring the District Six Museum in Cape Town -- a memorial recalling the forced segregation that once took place in the coastal city -- with her daughters Sasha and Malia, her mother, and her niece and nephew.
The museum trip replaced a planned visit to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. A ferry trip to the Atlantic Ocean island was cancelled because of dangerously high winds.
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