“Other youth programs,” Aamira says, “helped me but didn’t really help with life. And I think at Hope it did.” Last spring, Aamira, age 11 entered a national poetry contest as a birthday present to her mom and won. She read her poem aloud to a crowd of people. The theme of her poem was, How Can I Change the World.
A year before she entered the contest Aamira was very shy and speaking in front of people was challenging. She says, “It was kind of scary.” A friend told her about the Girls Empowerment Project at Hope Community and so she dedicated her Saturday mornings to learning about voice, performance, poetry and leadership with other girls her age. Aamira believes it was the program that helped her win the poetry contest. She says, “Hope made me feel better about myself.”
