The First Lady began her tour of South Africa meeting a parade of leaders from government, industry, non-profit and education, but it was her encounters with the very young and the very old that likely resonated most deeply with Michelle Obama and her family.

Her voice cracked and halted as she made an emotional speech in front of young women leaders in Soweto. She likened their nation’s journey to the American story, that began more than 200 years ago. At the close of her talk, in a crowded church, she reminded the group of a well known battle cry: “If anyone tells you, ‘you shouldn’t’ or ‘you can’t’, I want you to say with one voice — the voice of a generation, ‘Yes, we can’.”