Giving Is Golden

  

Aumiyah High (Sponsored Youth) and Rhonda Mathews (Contest Winner)

We all know it feels much better to give….  And when it comes down to helping our young people, “Giving IS TRULY GOLDEN”.    This past week, Real Rootz Apparel (RRA) sponsored Aumiyah High to attend Camp Butterfly Girls in the name of Rhonda Mathews.   Rhonda was the Community Outreach Contest winner for the “Dignity, Pride and Self-Realization” easy submission this past March.  And she won 6 t-shirts from the RRA collection for her entry.

Jamilah Shakir, Executive Director (Camp Butterfly Girls)

In honor of the winner, RRA sponsored a young lady to attend Camp Butterfly Girls which is a non-profit organization for girls ages 8 – 15. This whole life educational program was found by Jamilah Shakir,creator of Saniyyah Naturally.  It offers enrichment courses, educational retreats and community service involvement opportunities for young girls.

 

On Tuesday of last week, I was honored to spend part of the day with the young ladies of Camp Butterfly Girls.  During this time, they worked on a dance routine, discussed their family genealogy, had lunch and played, all while enjoying one another’s company…

Miss Yah-Tay and Aumiyah

But, here’s the magic found in the “Family Genealogy” session that I thought was amazing…  The young ladies had to do some brainstorming, pick three points (highlights) in their life, from the time they were born up to the current date.  Then they were tasked to construct a timeline and write down what was significant about the milestones chosen and to include their age.  

After being dispersed into smaller groups, the young ladies were given about 20 minutes to write an auto-biography (roughly 1-2 paragraphs) about themselves.  Upon completion, the young ladies had to read what they’d written one at a time, all while listening “with a compassionate ear verses a critical ear” per the instructions given by the family genealogist facilitator, Qur’an ShakirAbdul-Khaaliq (Principle, Mohammed Schools).

Needless to say, I was very impressed by the stories the young ladies told about their lives thus far. 

Remember now, these girls are no older than 15 years old.  So, to hear their thoughts and witness some of their life’s highlights were remarkable and insightful as they had learned how to tell their stories in a way that honored who they are as individuals, yet fulfilling the requirements for the given assignment. 

Supporting “Our Young Girls”

I’ve always enjoyed giving back and working with the young people in our community… I especially take pleasure in inspiring and empowering “Our Young Girls” and as the Founder of Real Rootz Apparel, I maintain that commitment to serve by reaching out and contributing, supporting community programs/events and youth servicing agencies that seek to enhance its participant’s life skills/life purpose readiness, educational opportunities and emotional/interpersonal well being…  Because It’s ALL ABOUT OUR YOUTH, The Next Generation of Leaders!

Words of Inspiration for Young Women

by Rhonda Mathews:

What I would tell young women to inspire them is that young women deserve to be respected and valued.   It is very important to teach our young women to love and respect themselves at an early age, and also for them to expect it from other people.  When we teach our young women to value themselves they won't accept being disrespected from others, and in turn as they get older the chance of them having, Dignity, Pride, and Self- Realization will already be in place.