- Barack Obama has praised the
soccer starMarcus Rashford for his work to help reduce child hunger. - Last year, Rashford spearheaded a campaign to tackle child food poverty in the UK.
- "A lot of the young people I meet - including Marcus - they're ahead of where I was when I was 23," Obama said.
Former President Barack Obama has praised the British soccer star Marcus Rashford for his work helping to reduce child hunger.
In a Zoom meeting organized by the publishing house Penguin, the pair discussed the power young people had to make change and the importance of giving back to one's community.
Rashford, 23, last year spearheaded a campaign to tackle child food poverty in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic.
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"A lot of the young people I meet - including Marcus - they're ahead of where I was when I was 23," Obama said in the meeting, according to CNN.
"They're already making changes and being positive forces in their communities.
"Even if you do something positive on a small scale, that's making a difference, and it's the accumulation of people doing positive things over time that makes us a little bit better with each successive generation."
-Penguin Books UK (@PenguinUKBooks) May 28, 2021
Rashford called the conversation, which will be aired in full on Penguin UK's YouTube channel on Friday, surreal.
"I mean, it's quite surreal, isn't it?" he said. "I'm sitting in my kitchen in Manchester, speaking to President Obama.
"But immediately he made me feel at ease. It wasn't long before I realized just how aligned our experiences as children were in shaping the men you see today - adversity, obstacles, and all.
"I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. When President Obama speaks, all you want to do is listen."