Muslim Girls Making Change is a slam poetry team composed of four teenage girls: Hawa Adam, Kiran Waqar, Lena Ginawi, and Balkisa Abdikadir. These 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. Multimedia producer Eva Sollberger 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 for this episode of her web video series, “Stuck in Vermont.”
Music: Bless the Child, 100%, “On My Side,” “Day to Daylight,” “Victory” & “Book of Life”
A version of this article first appeared on sevendaysvt.com and in Seven Days newspaper, a Burlington-based newsweekly published on Wednesdays and distributed for free at more than 1,000 locations in northern and central Vt. and Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Link to the video on the Seven Days site: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/muslim-girls-making-change-siv471/Content?oid=3886939
