Jill Biden talks safe sex, condoms with Kenya's young adults

"These are issues that really all people need to talk about and yet, somehow, they don't, and the consequences of not talking about it are so dire," Biden told dozens of young people after talking with them about safe sex, condom use and birth control at the Shujaaz Konnect Festival, a local youth empowerment event. "So, I love seeing the young people here."

At a tent where young people were having networking-like conversations, they showed her a questionnaire they use to spur discussion. The first question: "What would you say if I told you I had a condom in my pocket right now?"

Biden laughed. "And this is the first time they're meeting?" she asked.

A Shujaaz representative said such blunt propositions help teenagers and young adults overcome shyness, saying that it's sometimes easier to ask strangers these types of questions.

"I'm surprised you don't start with like, 'What's your biggest achievement?' rather than, 'I have a condom in my pocket,'" the first lady said.

Jill Biden and Rachel Ruto at a government community center in Kibera, Nairobi. [Brenda Czeda Radido, Standard]

"It's pretty ingenious that women found a way to support other women, to lift them up and to increase economic prosperity for families, right?" said Biden, who visited a different empowerment program on a 2010 stop at Kibera.

"I've always taught my own daughter and my granddaughter the importance of being financially independent and, so now, here, you've found a way to do your own banking system, which is pretty incredible," Biden said. Her granddaughter, Naomi, 29, sat nearby.

Before taking her seat at the table, Biden was wrapped from the waist down in an apron-like cloth known as a leso or kanga that women wear in the home.

At a separate event, Biden chatted with local entrepreneurs, small farmers and others who have been helped by Hello Tractor, which connects tractor owners and farmers who need the machinery.

The first lady also laid a wreath at the August 7th Memorial Park to honor those who were killed the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. More than 200 people were killed, including 12 Americans. More than 4,500 people were wounded.