12/9/16: Muslim Girls Making Change is a slam poetry team composed of four teenage girls: Hawa Adam, Kiran Waqar, Lena Ginawi, and Balkisa Abdikadir. The young poets use words to break down stereotypes and fight for social justice. Not yet a year old, the group has performed across the state, gaining local and international recognition along with some guidance from the Young Writers Project. MGMC recently competed at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Washington, D.C. and were included in the Huffington Post’s list of 17 Muslim American Women Who Made America Great In 2016.
Two members of MGMC performed at the Spectrum Multicultural Youth Program Girls Group on Friday evening in Burlington. Lena and Kiran also spoke to the young women about their journey and the power of self-expression. This inspired some of the participants to share their own poetry to a chorus of finger snaps.
For all of their activist accomplishments, MGMC are also busy teenagers. We spent some time with them at their high schools, at a YWP youth open mic night at Burlington City Arts and at the Islamic Society of Vermont in Colchester.
You can catch MGMC next at ArtsRiot on December 20th.
Music: Bless the Child, 100%, “On My Side,” “Day to Daylight,” “Victory” & “Book of Life”
This episode of Stuck in Vermont was made possible by
Hotel Vermont and New England Federal Credit Union
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This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2016.
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Thank you Eva! Thank you MCMG!
My pleasure! I enjoyed getting to know these talented young women.
These young ladies, and others like them, are indeed the future. I hope they continue writing, performing, speaking out, and mentoring. Many in older generations could learn a thing or 2 from them. I have no doubt they will go far.
At times, I’m concerned for those who wear hijab not because they want to, but because they are pressured (you can substitute many other representations of religious belief here, where young people are concerned-yarmulke, other headscarves and coverings, kuffi, bonnets and other “plain” clothing and coverings, attendance at religious schools, etc). I have no such concerns here. These are strong, educated young women who are embracing American culture, while retaining that of their ancestors and immediate families. Bravo MGMC