Meet Hajera

Hajera has been a part of GirlForward since 2017 and has served on the Advisory Board for two years. Hajera and her family have lived in the U.S. since 2014 after coming from Afghanistan. She is passionate about public health, reading, human rights, women’s rights, and equality in general. She is a 2020 graduate of Anderson High School in Austin, Texas. She is an incoming freshman at Austin Community College who is planning to study in the health sciences and become a doctor one day.

GirlForward has been a life changing experience for me. In the summer of 2017 my English teacher told me that I should join camp GirlForward so that I could improve my English, and she gave me a paper to fill out. As someone who did not speak much English at that time, I took the paper she gave me and showed it to my dad. He read it and was very happy that it was only girls and encouraged me to participate. I thought that I had to spend all of the summer in another boring summer school, which I hated. On the first day of camp I was very nervous as I was walking to the classroom but the teachers were very welcoming and introduced me to the other participants, many of whom I knew. As the day went by I felt completely the opposite of what I expected it to be. I had so much fun with all the girls and teachers. From the first day onwards I was very excited for the next day. When camp was over all of us felt very sad. I was very grateful that I could be a part of the camp. As much as I enjoyed it I learned so many things, too. It was one of the best summers I have had and I have been a part of GirlForwad since then. I have also been an Advisory Board member for the past two years which has helped me in gaining a lot of confidence. 

What is GirlForward? GirlForward is a non-profit organization that was created to support a girl with her school work in Chicago and later it grew bigger and bigger eventually becoming an organization from which many girls could be benefited. It has many different ways of supporting new refugee or immigrant girls but one of the main ways is it’s mentoring program, which from my experience and what I have heard other participants say is the most impactful and beneficial part of what makes GirlForward great. GirlForward also provides girls the opportunity to be part of the summer camp, which typically lasts four weeks. During this time girls are taught English and many other fun and educational workshops. These are some of the big things but there are also many small yet very impactful group workshops that girls can participate in and learn new skills. 

Through the Mentoring Program at GirlForward, I was matched with my mentor, Sarayu. She has been one of the best, most helpful people in my life. She has been my mentor for about 3 years and she has taught me many valuable things. Through her I have gained a lot of confidence and she has always encouraged me to work hard to reach my goals and dreams. She has supported and advised me with all kinds of matters and has been there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to about different things, such as where to go to college. I am very grateful to have met Sarayu and am thankful to GirlForward to make it possible. 

GirlForward is a program that brings out all talents and unique qualities girls have but don’t know it. Many of the refugee or immigrant girls have been through some very tough times in their lives and for most of them the reason why they are here is because their home country was too dangerous for them to live there. In low-income countries, people have so many things to worry about. Some don’t know what their next meal will be or if the roof above them is strong enough to protect them from wind or rain. Many people want to work but there's no job for them. If they are lucky and have a job,for people who also live in areas of conflict, they don’t know if they will return home alive because every day there are bomb blasts all around them. On top of all of these things, the girls in the family have it twice as hard because there are more things they worry about. For many girls, they can’t go to school or they don’t have one to go to, they can’t go outside alone, and in some cases are forced to get married at a young age. So for families like mine, it is lucky to be able to come to a place like Austin, Texas, but here they have to go through many other obstacles such as learning a new language, going to a completely different school, and getting used to a new culture. It is very difficult to learn well in school starting without speaking English.

 Having GirlForward for girls is a very powerful and quite impactful program to help them be successful. GirlForward’s mission is to support such girls and give them an opportunity to gain confidence and help them get to the path of reaching their goals and dreams. We need GirlForward to be all around the United States so that all girls can have the kind of support I have gotten from it and they have the opportunity to learn and succeed in their lives. Please consider donating to GirlForward today to uplift the girl refugees in your community who benefit greatly from these resources and support systems.