Las Vegas, USA - The First Lady of Mali, Mrs. Mintou Doucouré Traoré, arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 15 to participate in a UPF seminar and to meet with local officials and dignitaries interested in helping humanitarian activities in her country. The First Lady was accompanied on her four-day visit by the Malian Ambassador to the United States.
The visit was hosted by UPF in partnership with Another Joy Foundation, a Las Vegas-based charity famous for distributing books to underprivileged and developing communities around the world.
This invitation was in line with the vision shared by UPF Founder Dr. Sun Myung Moon in 2009 to transform Las Vegas into a “City of Light” where leaders from all over the world can become inspired to greater achievements. It was also a follow-up to UPF’s activities with the First Lady after her outstanding participation in the UPF World Summit in Korea last February, where she representing her husband, the head of state, who is a long-time Ambassador for Peace.
During the visit, Mrs. Traoré met with the Mayor of Las Vegas, Mrs. Carolyn Goodman, and with dozens of other prominent community leaders. Another Joy Foundation’s Founder, Alden Crowley, offered to send tens of thousands of books, medical supplies, and packets of vegetable seeds to Mali to help Mrs. Traoré’s work with rural women and girls. Later, UPF co-Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, offered to help cover the cost of shipping these donations. Mrs. Moon, who was out of the country at the time, was ably represented during the visit by her son Kwon Jin Moon.
Mrs. Traoré expressed sincere appreciation for the lecture presentations made by Dr. Tony Guerra. She said she would love to have Dr. Guerra come present the message of family values and peace to her people in Mali, which is recovering from an invasion last year by foreign insurgents who had been driven out of Libya during its civil war. Tens of thousands of families were displaced from their homes during the conflict, which ended this January with a joint military intervention by France and several West African countries.
The First Lady of Mali was awestruck by the sight of the Grand Canyon during a visit to the “Sky Walk” and was also impressed by the high technical level of a performance by the Cirque du Soleil on the Las Vegas Strip. Rev. Moon always said that he hoped the sights of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam and the elaborate, luxurious hotels on the Strip would inspire world leaders to see both the greatness of God the Creator and the marvels that humanity could create when they put their minds to it.