Today is a very special day.
I'm delighted to be bringing my family,
my brother, whom I adore,
with this Asia-Pacific family.
Hello, everybody!
The cohort would like to ask you, Barack,
how would you like to be seen in this group?
Thank you, sister.
And it's so nice to be with all of you.
How would I like to be seen?
I'd like to be seen as
Michelle's husband,
father of Malia and Sasha,
big brother of Maya Soetoro,
a friend and fellow traveler,
a teacher,
a storyteller,
and an optimist.
I see you as all of those things.
We are excited
to invite our leaders to share with you
a little bit about their own
personal journeys over the course of the program.
Solomon Islands is not really a place known
to a lot of people in the world,
but we have a very beautiful culture,
one that is built on community and family,
just like any other Pacific Island culture.
An important value
that my family has installed in me
was the value of service for others.
And my question for Mr. President is,
what was a value
installed in you as a child
that has guided your leadership journey?
You know, Maya and I both grew up primarily
with our mother,
who was just a fundamentally kind person.
And a leadership lesson that she taught me
is a belief in the capacity
for each of us to stand in another person's shoes,
and see through their eyes,
and understand that
every single person has worth and value
and dignity and a story,
and that I have the capacity to know them
as long as I am open to their experiences.
Hello, President Obama.
I am deaf and I am from Vietnam.
My biggest takeaways from this program
is a deeper understanding of myself and my power.
I had a chance to meet the president
of the Vietnam Federation on Disabilities.
So I apply what I have learned from this program,
tell my story
and the wish to establish
the National Association for the Deaf.
She then immediately introduced me
to the Vice President of the Federation
to discuss on the next steps in the process.
Tien, I'm so excited with the work that you’re doing.
When you look at the Disability Rights movement
in the United States,
there's so much greater awareness
and concrete laws that have been changed.
It all starts with the recognition
that you have this power,
and you just have to go out there and
start meeting and working with people
to exercise that power.
This has really been an opportunity
to see what leadership across Asia-Pacific
looks like.
This network is so rich with the best
that this part of the world has to offer.
So much of this program acts
as an incubator to help
grow the future of success
and prosperity for a part of the world
that I love more than anything.
Just know that you are now officially
part of the alumni of this program,
not just in the Asia-Pacific region,
but around the world.
And the work that you do is work
that we think is important
and that we're going to continue
to try to support
in any ways that we can going forward.
I will be following your outstanding work,
I'm sure, for many years to come.
See you, everybody!
Bye bye.