US first lady visits Malawi, donates 1.4 mln textbooks

LILONGWE - US first lady Melania Trump donated 1.4 million textbooks to 5,600 primary schools here on Thursday to help boost education.

She arrived in Malawi at 1:00 pm local time (1100 GMT) and was welcomed by the country's first lady, Gertrude Mutharika.

The US first lady proceeded to Chipala Primary School, which is located in a suburb less than 10 km north of the capital with over 8,500 pupils but only 77 teachers.

This school is one of the beneficiaries of the National Reading Program of USAID, which aims to help pupils improve their reading capability.

The US first lady also held roundtable talks with teachers and some officials.

This was the second stop of her trip to four African countries, namely Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt to promote her Be Best initiative. Her initiative focuses on the emotional and educational welfare of vulnerable children.