Joan Kembabazi is a 25-year-old feminist activist who champions an end to child marriage and girls' education in Uganda. Joan is the Founder and Team leader of Gufasha Girls Foundation and is currently a fellow in She’s the First’s Girl-Centered Incubator.
The latest edition of The Girl Gazette is here! This edition features a powerful poem about girls' leadership, an important essay about a patriarchal community, and artwork that encourages girls to end period stigma and feel good about their bodies.
The Girl Gazette shares girls' voices from around the world who work with our Partner Coalition organizations. Girls from She’s the First’s Partner Coalition express themselves through art, poetry, and essays about their experiences.
Safiya Speaks Up!, the impactful children's book developed by five She’s the First Girl Activist Fellows, is making significant strides in Southeast Asia through the efforts of two of its passionate authors and advocates, Anya Legarda and Allison Choong. It was created to educate young girls about combatting sexual violence and using their voices. Since its digital publication last fall, mentors and parents have shared Safiya’s story with more than 3,000 girls across the globe.
Check out the newest issue of The Girl Gazette: Volume 5, Issue 1 for Winter 2024! The Girl Gazette amplifies the voices of girls globally and empowers them through art, poetry, and more. We highlight girls around the globe who are a part of our Partner Coalition organizations.
Youth Ambassador Gladys Njeri shares her experience participating in the Girls First Summit, She’s the First’s annual event that brings together organizations for knowledge-sharing and targeted training, with local and global insights on best practices for supporting girls’ rights.
By Punya, 18, India
In shadows cast by doubt and fear,
A woman rises, strong and clear.
Her spirit, fierce, a beacon bright,
Empowered soul, a guiding light.
With every stride, she breaks the chains,
Defies the echoes of old refrains.
In unity, her strength unfolds,
A tapestry of stories told.
No longer bound by biased views,
She paints the world in vibrant hues.
Her voice, a melody of might,
Resounds through every day and night.
In resilience, she finds her grace,
A symphony of strength, embrace.
Empowerment, a flame untamed,
A legacy by her name proclaimed.
Through trials faced and battles won,
A woman's journey's never done.
United, let our voices ring,
In empowerment, together sing.
Punya is an 18-year-old teen who is driven by a fierce passion through various forms of creative writing, including poetry. Through her dedication to reading, writing, and learning, Punya has cultivated a deep curiosity about the world around her and a desire take a meaningful impact on the society. She was previously published by She’s the First as part of the Power of Poetry campaign.
Artwork provided by British Library/Unsplash
By Mishika Kapoor, 19, India
The scars prominent
Fevering the skin into dominance
The splashes still alive
Burning my heart from inside
Bruised face I hide behind the veil
Cause no one will stand for my pain
My eyes rain heavily
But emotions go silent
If I speak out people will talk
Such are the words I hear on loop
Will I hide all life
Covering my face can I survive
The revenge was baseless
Denial was my decision
But it wasn't respected,
I was abused, and lashes were painted on my face
A small ego destroyed my existence
For them it was a joke
But my whole life will rot
They are laughing while I cry in pain
I won’t sit behind bars
It wasn't even my fault
The guilt will cry
Many more like me will come out with pride
I will voice against the wrong
Acid attacks are not cool at all
The bruises burns the heart
Ripping the soul deeply apart
Sitting under the open sky
Gazing, as the stars fly
In the embrace of winters
Feeling frozen even around cinders
I think about the world
And my mind all swirled
A muse with the stars
The future bars.
My fallen stars
Jingling at my door while playing guitar
For I never wanted the story to end
YOU were a blessing to me, Oh Friend!
A magical spell so pale
Just like the fairy-tale
Of Prince, Princess and the Magic Hat
People said, ‘life isn’t like that’.
‘There are no wonderlands, no magic’.
But still I had dreams, such dramatic
My magic spell got shattered and frozen
Leaving just a soul completely broken
Which was mine, such a plight
Was the world right………?
Mishika Kapoor is a 19-year-old student studying Medicine who has had two volumes ov her poems published. “Being from India, I have seen women go through a lot since my childhood. Women choose to keep quiet due to societal pressure, and this is what I want to stand up for. I think women are no less than men, and men have no right to violate women or their rights.” Mishika wants to motivate women to speak out and change this patriarchal society. She has been writing since she was four, and her poems have been published in various national and international journals.
Climate Change and its related effects such as natural disasters, rising sea levels, and extreme weather conditions are known to cause significant socioeconomic stresses. As climate change intensifies, it exacerbates existing gender inequalities, deepening poverty and undermining sustainable development goals.
By Desiree Okonkwo, 15, United States
I used to agree and accede,
As they laughed because the teacher turned off the lights,
Giggle and sniffle while tears formed in my eyes,
Embarrassment forever fortified in my mind,
I used to mumble and mutter,
Watching them rip my culture to shreds,
Mocking my family’s accents as they shook their heads,
Inescapable humiliation bound around me like thread,
I used to whisper and whither,
My hands reaching for a straightener at an awful attempt,
At the role of “white girl” that I only achieved when I dreamt,
Depravedly desperate for any skin whitening bleach,
My immense ignominy a life-sized leech,
I used to resent and recoil from my reflection,
Contempt created by my colored complexion,
Nails digging in as I hurriedly scrubbed at my skin,
As if I could scrape away the black to unlock the white within
Playing a game supplied by shame I could never win
I used to detest, but now I accept,
Bewitched by my brown color with a bit of remorse and regret
That I ever allowed myself to be so miserable misled,
That I ever viewed my home and heritage with horrid hatred,
That I ever believed racist rhetoric that was said and spread,
But worst of all, that I ever assumed that my blackness could make me less than.
You may be pondering why a mere high schooler is writing about paychecks when the relevance of a salary to a child's life is minimal; the truth is, I'm terrified of growing up in a world where my work is valued significantly less than my male counterpart. Undervalued to the extent that women statistically earn only 83% of what a man makes. This everyday experience of women across the globe is known as the Gender Pay Gap.
We’re proud to launch of Safiya Speaks Up, a children’s book and mentor’s guide written by girls between the ages of 15 and 21 from the She’s the First’s Girl Activist Fellowship. This “tell-all” is a memoir of the stories behind the book, as well as the memories we shared throughout its creation.
An interview with Adela Tuy, a member of our Girls Advisory Council and a recent high school graduate of MAIA, a member of our Partner Coalition
Adela on stage with her parents on graduation day!
What does graduating mean to you?
To me, graduating means: a big achievement, that I am advancing, and it is the key that opens doors to other opportunities.
How has MAIA helped you achieve your goals?
MAIA provided me with different kinds of tools, resources to find the power of my voice and dream about a new future and world. Before MAIA I already had the dream of continuing studying and graduating from high school, but I didn't know when or how I would do it so I decided to look, and I found it in MAIA. Here there was a great team of people who helped me and showed me that there were different ways to rewrite my own story. Now I know who I was, who I am, and who I want to be, I know my roots and have a better vision of my life. In MAIA I learned that every day I can evolve, and with empowerment, I can empower other women.
“Now I know who I was, who I am, and who I want to be, I know my roots and have a better vision of my life. ”
What are your future plans?
My future plans are to continue to university, have a formal job, and improve my English. I want to work in projects that involve volunteering or give workshops about leadership, girls´ rights to Indigenous young people. I want to be a leader in my community and to become a famous writer.
The graduating class of the MAIA Impact School poses on stage.
Is there anything else you would like to share? For example, about girls’ rights, challenges you overcame, or your program experience?
I have a project called “Up and Up”, it focuses on girl’s rights and learning to raise our voices. I created it because there are very few women who are leading projects. When I started it, a lot of girls from my community did not want to participate because they were fearful and full of insecurities, they thought they could not become leaders. Today more than 15 girls from my community are part of this project.
Adela is a Kaqchikel Mayan woman from Guatemala. She is 18 years old and lives in Sololá, Guatemala. In 2022, she graduated from the MAIA Impact School, and now she’s a part of MAIA’s Launch Program. She’s also a part of the Communications and Fundraising team at MAIA.
In 2021, she was the winner of seed capital in the Ella Impacta Program of Vital Voices Guatemala, and she founded the Up&Up Youth Collective, a project for young women who exert influence in society. “One of the main objectives of my project is to promote the social participation of youth in my community.”
Adela is currently a member of the Girls Advisory Council at She's The First and an ambassador for Girl Rising.
