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.
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.
Autora: Wendy Palax, miembro del Consejo Asesor de Niñas de She's the First
Las miradas no fueron la herida, las palabras que me recorrían de arriba hacia abajo fue la nota más aguda que hubiera escuchado.
Los rostros eran los mismos, los mismos que dicen ser "Familia".
Los mismos que me llevaron a un gran abismo.
Los mismos que siguen sin creer.
Los mismos que juzgan sin saber.
Los mismos que dicen ser "Familia".
Esa tarde se convirtió en un lugar lleno de preguntas sin respuestas.
¿Dónde voy a vivir?
¿Con quién me debo casar?
¿Debo caerles bien?
¿Qué carrera llevar?
¿Cumpliré con los requisitos para no fallar?
Y sobre todo, el eco de las palabras rebotaban en mi mente.
"Eres mujer no pierdas vergüenza algún día"
Creí que no me había afectado
Creí que era ilusión mía
Creí que eran mentiras
Creí que debía aceptarlas para encajar.
Observé y me di cuenta que eran las mismas palabras y etiquetas, para ser aceptada en un mundo lleno de maldad y ciclos repetitivos.
Ciclos de etiquetas, requisitos, reglas. Para mantener un papel, orden y sobre todo ser aceptada.
¿Estoy en el camino correcto?
Me pregunté
Me observé
Me escuché
Me acepte
Me convertí
El espejo de mi habitación reflejó aquel puño de inseguridades a
un enredo de flores y espinas adornando la habitación.
Yo no quiero ser una más que dejó sus sueños anclados por la sociedad.
Mi voz será mi aliado para llegar a cada rincón.
No llevaré los requisitos de la sociedad.
No llevaré las reglas para ser aceptada.
Llevaré mis requisitos,
llevaré mis fallas a la sociedad.
Viviré disfrutado los días que vendrán.
Seré un rompecabezas
Seré la pieza faltante
Seré voz
Seré silencio
Seré la solución
Seré yo.
Una niña con educación es imparable- pero barreras como la discriminación de género, pobreza y explotación impiden que muchas niñas se graduen. Nuestras Jóvenes Embajadoras crearon la campaña El poder de la Poesía para amplificar las voces de las niñas sobre este tema para el Mes Nacional de la Poesía y la Semana de Acción Mundial por la Educación.
Wendy Palax, de 18 años, es una orgullosa mujer indígena maya y miembro del Consejo Asesor de Niñas de She's the First. Vive en Sololá, Guatemala. “Soy valiente y resistente y me dedico a aprender, comprender y lograr mis sueños. Quiero ser una líder en mi comunidad y en mi país. Quiero romper barreras y empoderar a otras. Soy una joven decidida. Soy una mujer indígena decidida. Romperé los estereotipos y demostraré que tenemos potencial”.
The looks were not the wound, the words that ran up and down in me was the sharpest note that I’ve ever heard.
The faces were the same, the same that claim to be “Family”.
The same who took me to a large abyss.
The same who continues without believing.
The same who judge without knowing.
The same who claim to be “Family”.
This afternoon has turned into a place filled with questions without answers.
Where will I live?
Who should I marry?
Should they like me?
What career to take?
Will I meet the requirements not to fail?
And above all, the echo of the words that bounced in my mind.
“You are a woman, do not lose shame one day”.
I thought it had not affected me
I thought it was my illusion
I thought that they were lies
I thought that I should accept them to fit in.
I observed and I realized they were the same words and labels, to be accepted in a world filled with evil and repetitive cycles.
Cycles of labels, requirements, rules. To maintain a role, order, and above all be accepted.
Am I on the right path?
I asked myself
I observed myself
I listened to myself
I accepted myself
I became
The mirror in my room reflected that fist of insecurities to
a tangle of flowers and thorns adorning the room.
I don’t want to be one more that left her dreams anchored by society.
My voice will be my ally to reach every corner.
I will not bear the requirements of society.
I will not carry the rules to be accepted.
I will carry my requirements,
I will take my faults to society.
I will live enjoying the days to come.
I will be a puzzle
I’ll be the missing piece
I’ll be voice
I’ll be silence
I’ll be the solution
I will be me.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and the the Global Action Week for Education.
Wendy Palax, 18, is a proud Indigenous Maya woman and a member of the She’s the First Girls Advisory Council. She lives in Sololá, Guatemala. “I am brave and resilient and dedicated to learning, understanding, and achieving my dreams. I want to be a leader in my community and in my country. I want to break barriers and empower others. I am a determined young woman. I am a determined Indigenous woman. I will break stereotypes and prove we have potential.”
Author: Jessica Chukwu
She does not want children
This feels contradictory
Mutually exclusive as if “she” and this particular desire cannot exist at the same time
She knows it’s religion not God that makes this phrase feel
The way it does
uneasy, as if something is out of order
a man would hear what I want and say “that’s out of order”
a woman would hear what I want and say “that’s out of order”
so I guess I’m out of orders
out of rules and restrictions
out of a need to think beyond myself, I guess I don’t have the woman “gene” or conviction
a contradiction
I am a postmodern woman, I have nothing to say to tradition.
it’s Christmas time, the room’s aroma is rich with jollof rice and chicken. My family are gathered around while “fresh prince” plays on the tv. We are laughing, conversing and catching up. A quick fire round of charades begins, the music blasting on speakers soon follows. The afro beats of the early 2000s take us back to our childhood. We sink deeper into the evening. Eating our sugar filled deserts. My aunty starts asking us about our goals, our future, what we think our families will be like, how many children we want. All of us are sitting in a circle like shape, the most intimate where the warmest conversations are born. The cousins are answering, response range from 2 to 5, we are laughing at each other’s answers and envisioning our cousins as parents.
As the gentle laughter dies down again so the next person can speak
I see that the next person is me.
I’m uncomfortable but they don’t know.
I blink and look at my aunty extra hard, maintaining eye contact, willing my eyes to waver so she will know I don’t want to answer. When this quickly failed I prayed to Gaia and hoped some womanly instinct would tell her to move on.
She doesn’t. So, I lie “I don’t know maybe 2 or 3, my aunty shoots a smile my way, nods and moves on to my little sister.
My answer was distant. Impersonal.
“How many children do you want?”, enquiring about secondary desires when you have already gotten my primary desire incorrect.
“How many children do you want?” the question preceding that, whether I even want children is already answered for me and I must accept it.
“How many children do you want?” a question that would like me to speak, a question that silences me.
So, I cannot.
often
a woman is seen as a mother in waiting.
I am a woman, content.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and Global Action Week for Education.
Jessica Chukwu, 19, is from London and Nigeria. “Growing up the stencil that is consciously and subconsciously put onto girls via the media, family, and teachers’ expectations of what a ‘woman’ is, was prominent. The idea that there is a set of outer and inner characteristics that entrench one as a woman is a ridiculous and harmful narrative I am motivated to eradicate. Such notions limit and constrain creativity and freedom, as well as perpetuate shame for those that do not fit into this strict patriarchal mould. I think that is unfair, because creativity and freedom are the qualities that create a fulfilling life. I am passionate about women's rights because I believe women should be able to mould a life of their choosing, with their mind and their wants.” She enjoys writing poetry, and her favorite author is Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.
Author: Yalda Aminy
منو تو نسلی از اندوه ممتد
شکار پنجه ی خفاش بودیم
نگاه ام آسمانی بود و اما
منو تو همقطار باز بودیم
ببستن سنگر تعلیم ما را
منو تو مطلوب الماس بودیم
شکستن رنگ های نوجوانی
منو تو هردو یک آواز بودیم
برای نسل یک ملت چه گویم
منو تو زن شده غمساز بودیم
گهی ظلم و شکنجه گهَ خشونت
منوتو مادر قفقاز بودیم
شب تاریک ز زلف ما سحر شد
منو تو بند یک الفاظ بودیم
خشونت نام دوم جهان هست
منوتو مظلوم این ساز بودیم
کتابم را گرفتند و ندانند
منوتو مادر الفاظ بودیم
به رقص و پایکوبی در دل جهل
منو تو زاده ، آزاد بودیم
به آواز خوانی آسمان درسم
منو تو معلم هر ساز بودیم
#یلداهُژیرامینیع ♥️🥀
You and I are a generation of continuous sadness
We were the prey of bat claws
My gaze was heavenly and but
You and I were on the same train with Baz
Closing the bastion of our education
You and I were the desired diamonds
Breaking the colors of adolescence
You and I were the same song
What can I say for the generation of a nation?
You and I became a woman, we were sad
Sometimes cruelty and torture, sometimes violence
You and I were Caucasian mothers
The dark night became dawn from our zalf
You and I were bound by the same words
Violence is the second name of the world
You and I were victims of this instrument
They took my book but they don't know
You and I were the mother of words
At the time of dancing and stomping in the heart of ignorance
You and I were born free
I am learning to sing the sky
You and I, the teacher, were each instrument
“They took my book but they don’t know,
You and I were the mother of words”
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation. Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for Poetry Month and the the Global Action Week for Education.
Yalda Hozhair Aminy, 22, is an social activist and a member of the Afghan Girls Robotic Team. She works with several international organizations, including Afghan Youths Network and the Golden Needle Association. She is an Ambassador of Allies to Refugees in Afghanistan and helped them to open their first center in Afghanistan.
