First lady Michelle Obama appeared on 106 & Park on Thursday to discuss her upcoming trip to South Africa and Botswana June 20-26. Obama is scheduled to meet prominent public officials and men and women who’ve made history, but the people she’s most excited about interacting with are the youth who will one day lead the two nations.

“I’m doing this because we know that Africa is a fundamental part of our interconnected world and when it comes to meeting the challenges of our time—whether it’s climate change or extremism, poverty or disease, the world is looking to African nations as vital partners,” she said, adding that the world will look to the continent’s young people “to help lead the way.”

In South Africa, Obama will deliver the keynote address at the U.S.-sponsored Young African Women Leaders Forum and talk with students from historically disadvantaged communities who will attend a daylong immersion program at the University of Cape Town. She’s also planning to participate in soccer activities with local boys and girls from the area. The visit to Botswana includes a service project with members of the Baylor Children’s Clinic Center of Excellence’s Teen Club at the site of a planned adolescent center.

Check out BET.com for daily updates from the first lady's trip. Twitter users will be able to track updates about the first lady's experiences and interact with others who are following the trip with the hashtag #youngafrica.

“When you connect with other young people, when you share your thoughts and ideas and take the time to listen to theirs, you begin to realize just how much you have in common,” she said. “You see that whether you live in New York, or New Delhi or Nairobi, so often we share the same values, the same goals and more importantly, the same dreams.”