Assembly is a digital publication for girls by Malala Fund.
What’s 16-year-old Bhagyashree Prabhutendolkar’s go-to snack after a busy day? Her mother’s homemade gulab jamun! 😋 🇮🇳 For Assembly’s Roll Call series, where girls like you give us a glimpse into their lives, Bhagyashree writes about a week in her life — from binge watching MasterChef to serving as the editor-in-chief of Youth Magazine, a publication she created for young writers! 👩🏾🍳🗞Check it out at the link in our bio! 🥰
Staying up late to study, competing for top marks and meeting classmates at the campus library — this was Mina's life as a university student. But then the Taliban took over. Under a pseudonym, Mina shares how the crisis in Afghanistan has affected her education and what the world can do now.
Hear from her at the link in our bio.
بیخوابی برای مطالعه و یادگیری، رقابت سالم برای بدست آوردن نمرات عالی و ملاقات با همصنفی ها در کتابخانه دانشگاه بخشی از زندگی ازوش به عنوان یک دانشجوی دانشگاه بود. اما بعد از تسلط طالبان بالای افغانستان - ازوش نام مستعار - تاثیر منفی این بحران در افغانستان را بالای روند آموزش خود و آنچه که جهان میتواند انجام دهد را به اشتراک می گذارد.
برای خواندن اکاونت مکمل او به شبکه ما بروید.
Photo: Majid Saeedi via
Young women in Pakistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and India share how climate change is preventing girls in their communities from learning — and what concrete actions they want to see governments taking. 🇵🇰🇧🇷🇪🇹🇳🇬🇮🇳
*Note: Meera is a pseudonym.
(Tap “more” for English 👇🏾)
Cuando las elecciones presidenciales de 2013 en Venezuela hundieron al país en una crisis económica, cambiaron por completo la vida de Katty Reyes, de 16 años. Ahora, su otrora hermosa ciudad natal de Mamporal enfrenta regularmente escasez de gas, agua, alimentos y luz, todas las cosas que han afectado su capacidad para ir a la escuela. Pero no dejará que eso la disuade de completar su educación.
“A pesar de que la situación en Venezuela es así, tengo en mente mis metas y sigo trabajando para cumplir mis sueños y ayudar a mi familia a salir adelante. No será fácil, pero debemos avanzar para que el país pueda mejorar, ” escribe Katty.
El artículo de Katty es parte de la colaboración de con la fotógrafa Silvana Trevale () y 1854 Media (). Siga el enlace de nuestra biografía para ver las hermosas y conmovedoras instantáneas de la vida de Katty de Silvana. 🇻🇪📸💛
When Venezuela’s 2013 presidential election plummeted the country into an economic crisis, it changed 16-year-old Katty Reyes’ life completely. Now, her once-beautiful hometown of Mamporal regularly faces gas, water, food and power shortages — all things that have affected her ability to go to school. But she won’t let it deter her from completing her education.
“Despite the fact that the situation in Venezuela is like this, I keep my goals in mind and keep working to fulfill my dreams and help my family move forward. It will not be easy, but we must move forward so that the country can improve,” Katty writes.
Katty’s article is part of ’s collaboration with photographer Silvana Trevale () and 1854 Media (). Follow the link in our bio to see Silvana’s beautiful, moving snapshots of Katty’s life. 🇻🇪📸💛
Coming out — especially to your family — is a daunting task for many young q***r people. When K.A. told her parents that she liked other girls, their reactions were far from perfect. “You’re essentially telling the people who have known you your entire life and who are closest to you that a certain part of you is different than they always thought,” she writes. “It’s — in short — something that requires a lot of courage and planning.”
For Assembly this week, K.A. writes a moving piece about the unexpected and complicated way she came out to her parents — and the self-love that she found afterwards. 🏳️🌈💛
Like always, you can find the full story at the link in our bio.
It’s hereee! ✨ Our latest issue of Assembly is online. (And in your inboxes, if you’re signed up for our newsletter 😉💌)
In this issue:
🇻🇪 16-year-old Katty Reyes talks about the reality of her life in Venezuela and what it’s like trying to study with power outages, contaminated water and not enough food.
🌎 We round up the latest from our Change the Subject campaign. Hear from young women about how climate change affects girls’ education and what they want leaders at to do about it.
🏳️🌈 An anonymous writer shares a courageous essay about coming out to her parents. 💛
🇮🇳 … and 13-year-old Anya Sen writes about how the COVID-19 crisis has disrupted girls’ learning in India.
Read more at the link in our bio 🥰👆🏽
Want to build a greener, fairer future? 🌎 Listen to more women! 👏🏾🗣 Girls from Italy, Uganda, Malaysia, Mexico and more share what they want world leaders at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland to know. 🌱
(Tap “more” for English 👇🏾)
جانا تکلیف دہ تھا — اور یہ اکثر اس کے ساتھیوں اور پڑوسیوں کے طنز، امتیازی سلوک اور دھونس کا باعث بنی۔ لیکن اسماء نے اپنے راستے میں کوئی چیز نہیں آنے دی۔
''میں نے کبھی امید کا دامن نہیں چھوڑا اور تعلیم حاصل کرنے کی خواہش کبھی ترک نہیں کی۔ میں ان لڑکیوں، جنہیں مجھ جیسی رکاوٹوں کا سامنا کرنا پڑا، کو یہ دکھانا چاہتی تھی کہ ان مسائل کو ان کی پہچان نہیں بناتے۔''
اسمبلی کے ساتھ اسماء کا انٹرویو پڑھیں یہ جاننے کے لیے کہ وہ پاکستان میں معذور طلباء و طالبات کی وکالت کے لیے اپنی مضبوط آواز کو کس طرح استعمال کر رہی ہے— اور کلاس روم کے اندر اور باہر کیسے تبدیلی لا رہی ہے۔ 💪🏾 🗣 💚(Tap "more" for English)
Growing up with elephantiasis — a disease which causes her limbs to swell — it was painful for Asma Manzar Qureshi to make it to school. She often had to weather taunts, discrimination and bullying from her classmates and neighbours. But Asma didn’t let anything get in her way.
“I never gave up hope and never lost my desire to pursue an education. I wanted to show girls who faced obstacles like me that those challenges didn’t have to define them.” 💚
Asma wrote a piece for Assembly sharing how she’s using her voice to advocate for disabled students in Pakistan — and how she’s creating change inside and outside of the classroom. 💪🏾 🗣 💚
During the 2014 Gaza War, Malak Mattar () sought physical — and emotional — shelter by painting to release her emotions. Now, the 21-year-old artist is on her way to becoming a household name. 🇵🇸🎨🖌
“Palestine is the place I was inspired by the first art piece I saw, the place I started painting in and where I grew up,” she explains. “The struggles and the injustice I have witnessed in my life in Gaza inspired me to advocate for Palestine and Palestinian women through storytelling.”
Read Assembly’s interview with Malak in our bio and hear from her how she advocates for Palestinian rights through her creativity.
Raise your hand if you spent more time learning cursive than learning about climate change in school 🙄🙋🏽♀️ Ugandan climate activists Joan Namaggwa and Clare Nassanga (.and.clare) agree: “You wouldn’t know from the way climate education is taught in many schools that the world is facing a climate and ecological crisis.” 👏🏾👏🏾
“We learned the basics of environmental protection and a bit about climate change — but there was not much. We did not learn about the or even climate activism. There was no real importance placed on the subject.”
Read on at the link in our bio to learn why Joan and Clare are calling on leaders to prioritise climate education at the conference. 🌎
When 21-year-old Kanaka Maoli photographer 📸Kapulei Flores () looks through her camera lens, she sees the Hawaiʻi that she knows and loves — the one she’s fighting to protect. “Photography has allowed me to shed truth on many misconceptions of and misinformation about Hawaiʻi from a foreign perspective,” Kapulei explains. 👏🏽✊🏽
In her photo essay for Assembly, Kapulei documents her home through Native eyes and relays Native Hawaiians’ fight to protect their land rights and natural wonders. But she knows the responsibility of reeducating people about Hawaiʻi’s history cannot fall on her shoulders alone. “Schools need to be teaching this too. Educators need to correct false narratives around Christopher Columbus, the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the U.S. annexation of Hawaiʻi. Students need to understand that the issues Hawaiʻi faces today — like houselessness, housing inflation, poor land management … — are a direct result of the U.S. government using military threats to steal land and resources from right under our people.”
View Kapulei’s stunning photos at the link in our bio. 👆🏽💛💛
Hot off the (digital) press — our newest issue of Assembly is out now! 📰🗞🥰
In this issue:
👩🏽🏫 Pakistani teacher Asma Manzar Qureshi with writes about living with elephantiasis and creating an inclusive learning environment for students with disabilities
🎨 Palestinian artist Malak Mattar () brings her homeland to life — with just the stroke of a brush
📸 21-year-old Hawaiian photographer Kapulei Flores () shares a photo essay of her home captured through Native eyes
🌎 Ugandan student activists Joan Namaggwa and Clare Nassanga share what schools should be teaching students about climate change
Tap the link in our bio to hear more from these inspiring girls and women 💛🥰
*Photo courtesy Samantha Rapoza
How does intersectionality — the idea that people can experience more than one form of oppression or advantage — affect your activism? Young women from Cameroon, Canada, Colombia and Nepal answer! 🇨🇲🇨🇦🇨🇴🇳🇵
Chinatowns serve as important touchstones for those in the Chinese and Asian diaspora. Many gather in these neighborhoods to find safety, keep cultural traditions alive — or even just enjoy dim sum 🥟 However, due to soaring rent prices, immigration raids and other forms of systemic discrimination, these iconic neighbourhoods are at risk of disappearing.
Assembly spoke to Audrey Chou (insert handle), a 17-year-old community organiser in New York City 🇺🇸, Amy Phung and Mai-Anh Peterson, two Chinese Londoners who run an ESEA organisation .n 🇬🇧, a housing and racial justice group in Toronto and a fashion-designer-turned-activist Wawa Li (insert handle) in Montreal . Read on to find out how these young women are using their voices to fight gentrification in the Chinatowns that mean so much to them.
*Hazel is a pseudonym.
You might have heard the term “intersectionality” before — but what does it mean? 🤷🏽♀️ Intersectionality is the idea that social categories assigned to a person — such as race, class, gender and sexuality — can overlap and interlock to create different experiences for each individual. Our latest Assembly issue, guest-edited by former intern , features stories from girls whose work centres intersectionality — from community organisers battling gentrification to activists championing other girls with disabilities 🌟 In this issue we highlight:
🏮🏙 Young women working to protect Chinatowns — which are slowly disappearing from gentrification and anti-Asian racism
🌎 Girls from Cameroon, Nepal, Colombia and Canada share what intersectionality means to them 🇨🇲🇳🇵🇨🇴🇨🇦
💛 Girls with disabilities tell us how ability and gender intersect to affect their lives 🎧 (An audio version of this piece is also available!)
🥰 And a piece by former Assembly intern that breaks down intersectionality and the history behind the term. (raised hands emoji)
Check it out at the link in our bio 💚 Happy reading and listening! 📖 🎧
Student and bookworm knows how hard it can be for students to read for fun. “Between huge workloads at school, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs and busy social lives, it can be hard to find the time,” Sarah explains. “Plus, a lot of the books we read at school don’t always give a true reflection of the world of reading.”
But Sarah thinks we’re missing out. “Reading is actually fun,” she shares. “It’s a fantastic way to unwind after a busy day at school, and you can travel to so many places with a book while staying right on your couch or bed.” ✨ Ready to begin? Check out Sarah’s step-by-step guide to beginning to read for pleasure on Assembly! (Check our bio)
Raise your hand if you think schools could do more to teach about climate change 🙋🏾♀️🙋🏿♀️🙋🏽♀️ Bonus points for sharing what you wish your school taught you about the climate crisis. Go👇🏾
Calling all bookworms! 📚 We’re helping three lucky Assembly readers ring in the new season with a box of some of our favourite new books. Keep scrolling to learn more about these reads, and enter to win at the link in our bio!
“Banned Book Club” by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada: In this gripping graphic memoir, Kim Hyun Sook shares about her life as a student under an authoritarian regime in South Korea in the early 1980s, and how she rebelled through reading.
“Firekeeper’s Daughter” by Angeline Boulley: A groundbreaking young adult thriller about a Native teen roots out corruption in her community and learns what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman).
“The Gilded Ones” by Namina Forna: Fantasy fans will love this West African-inspired feminist tale about 16-year-old warrior Deka who fights against her patriarchal society and its constraints on girls.
“The Last Cuentista” by Donna Barba Higuera: In this dystopian novel set deep in outer space, 12-year-old Petra Peña must use her love of storytelling to lead her brainwashed shipmates out of darkness and save humanity.
“Unsettled” by Reem Faruqi: Follow 13-year-old Nurah as she moves from Karachi, Pakistan to Peachtree City, Georgia and finds her place — and voice — in her new home.
We need more educators like Emily Blackmore. In our latest issue, the aspiring biology teacher discusses the gaps in climate education in Scottish classrooms and shares her ideas (spoiler: she’s got many!) for cultivating a generation of climate-conscious students. From teaching about eco anxiety to helping students write to parliament, her ambitions send a clear message: It’s time for schools to step it up. 😤
Read how she’s teaching students to make a difference. Link in our bio!
(Tap “more” for English 👇🏾) पर्यावरणीय चिंता: कधी याबद्दल ऐकले आहे? आपण ला समजावून द्यायला सांगू. ज्यामुळे जगभरातील नैराश्य पातळ्या, चिंता किंवा पीटीएसडी वाढते आहे तो “हवामान आणि पर्यावरणीय आपत्तीचा घोंघावणारा धोका” सोबतीला असताना तरुण लोकांचे जगणे कसे आहे, आणि या संकटाचा सामना करण्याचा एकमेव मार्ग हा शिक्षणाद्वारे कसा आहे यावर भारतातील हवामान चळवळकर्ती असेंब्लीमध्ये चर्चा करते. तिच्या शब्दांमध्ये:
“त्यांच्या मानसिक आरोग्याचे संरक्षण आणि आघात करणाऱ्या अनुभवांचा सामना ते कसे करू शकतात हे सांगण्यासाठी शाळांनी स्वतंत्र सत्रे घ्यावी अशी माझी इच्छा आहे. विद्यार्थ्यांनी पर्यावरणीय चिंतेबद्दल शिकले पाहिजे आणि ती कोणत्या मार्गांनी प्रकट होऊ शकते हे ओळखणे त्यांना शक्य झाले पाहिजे.… जेणेकरून ते त्यांची उर्जा जे सर्वात महत्वाचे आहे त्यासाठी वापरू शकतील: हवामान आणीबाणीवर उपाय शोधणे.”
हवामान आणि मानसिक आरोग्य यांच्या छेदबिंदूबाबत आमच्या बायोमधील लिंकवर गार्गीकडून अधिक काही.
Eco anxiety: Ever heard of it? We’ll let explain. 🗣️ On Assembly, the climate activist from India discusses what it’s like for young people to live with “the looming threat of a climate and ecological disaster” that’s causing increased levels of depression, anxiety and PTSD worldwide, and how the only way to tackle this crisis is through education. In her words:
“I want schools to have separate sessions explaining how [students] can protect their mental health and deal with traumatic experiences. Students should learn about eco anxiety and be able to recognise the ways it might manifest … so they can devote their energies to what’s most important: finding solutions to the climate emergency.”
More from Gargi on the intersection of climate and mental health at the link in our bio.
Do you think schools don't teach enough about climate change? Us too.
That’s why, leading up to , an important climate conference in November, is asking leaders to include climate curriculums and girls’ education in their plans to tackle the climate crisis. But our demands are not complete without *your* input. Enter Change the Subject: a campaign that centres young women’s voices, experience and expertise on climate change — how it’s affecting your lives, what you’re learning (or not learning!) about the climate crisis in school, what you think climate education should include and how you want leaders to make it happen.
We know you are passionate about your future and you have a lot to contribute in how to make it better. Click the link in our bio and tell us your thoughts and stories about climate change and education — and read what other young women like you are already saying.
To change the world, we need to change the subject first — and that starts with you sharing your ideas on how you want to learn.
What career are you dreaming up? 💭 Girls from India, Ireland, Nigeria and the U.S. sound off.
For , the key to success is simple: “Don’t be afraid to raise your hand. Don't be afraid to write essays on things you care about. Don't be afraid to take some risks in pushing forward what you want people to hear from you.”
This year, the girls’ education activist, popular YouTuber and Oxford and Harvard graduate is gearing up for another major life event: the release of her first book! After all that she’s accomplished, Vee says her work remains focused on helping other young women believe in themselves and pursue their goals with confidence.
“I hope that a young Black girl that watches my videos feels like: I deserve nothing but the best in this world, and I don’t have to hold myself back just because other people don’t believe in me.”
Go to the link in our bio to read Italian student and founder of the blog Chiara Longo’s interview with Vee.
For , the key to success is simple: “Don’t be afraid to raise your hand. Don't be afraid to write essays on things you care about. Don't be afraid to take some risks in pushing forward what you want people to hear from you.”
This year, the girls’ education activist, popular YouTuber and Oxford and Harvard graduate is gearing up for another major life event: the release of her first book! After all that she’s accomplished, Vee says her work remains focused on helping other young women believe in themselves and pursue their goals with confidence.
“I hope that a young Black girl that watches my videos feels like: I deserve nothing but the best in this world, and I don’t have to hold myself back just because other people don’t believe in me.”
Go to the link in our bio to read Italian student and founder of the blog Chiara Longo’s interview with Vee.
When Khanum Gevorgyan was young, she didn’t know much about the Armenian genocide. But learning about this event, in school and from her relatives, and how it resulted in the deaths of over 1.5 million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians, left Khanum with a difficult legacy.
“I felt lonely carrying that knowledge when I realized that other students around the world weren’t learning about it too.”
How has the legacy of the genocide affected a generation of Armenian youth? Hear from Khanum at the link in our bio.
A few months into Akosua Agyepong’s first year of university in Ghana, a high school friend called her on the phone with the news that she was HIV positive.
Initially Akosua’s reaction was “I wanted to keep it at arm’s length.” Today she advocates against that same stigma.
In this week’s Assembly, Akosua shares about her friend’s diagnosis and how it led her to recognize her own biases and the lack of awareness about sexual and reproductive health in her country.
While in university, Akosua led door-to-door campaigns on campus and in communities across Ghana aimed at changing social norms. At 19 years old, she co-founded , a nonprofit which offers temporary housing and support services to female survivors of gender-based violence.
Find Akosua’s conversation with former Malala Fund intern Amara Ochefuat the link in bio.
You’ve got (e-)mail! 📧 The newest issue of Assembly is here, and this is one you won’t want to miss. This week:
🎓Assembly reader Chiara Longo () asks YouTuber Vee Kativhu () about her activism for girls’ education and what it was like graduating from Harvard during a pandemic.
💭 Girls from India, Ireland, Nigeria and the U.S. tell us about their dream jobs.
✊🏿Activist Akosua Agyepong (.agyepong) explains how she’s fighting to end HIV stigma in Ghana and beyond.
Stay tuned for more from these amazing young women!
Listen up, world leaders — these young women have something to say. 😤
If you had a pipeline to the head of your country, what would you say? Comment below! 👇🏾
When she was 12 years old, ’s world revolved around two things: and — but that obsession was short-lived. “Society told me that singing about boys and break-ups and reading about love made me ‘girly,’ and that… feminine interests were shallow, foolish and immature,” she writes.
Saachi felt ashamed to embrace her interests and this feeling, she explains, is the product of internalised misogyny, a form of prejudice that tells girls to distance themselves from femininity. It pits women against each other and ignores their complexities, perpetuating the idea “that being a woman makes you lesser.” Over time, Saachi found safe spaces to learn about feminism, reject internalised misogyny and rediscover her love for the Taylors (Swift and Lautner). But her greatest realisation was that it was okay to relate to other young women.
“Maybe liking these things makes me like other girls — and what is the problem in that?”
“There are only 170 accredited universities in Nigeria... At the same time, there are currently over 180 million people living in Nigeria and about 62% of them are 24 or younger. There are simply not enough universities for Nigeria’s student population... Even if you get into university, that is no guarantee you will get a quality education… You have to listen to male lecturers tell you what you can or can't wear. You have to walk on eggshells, thinking carefully and choosing your words with caution because Nigerian universities are plagued by extreme cases of violence against women.”
On Assembly, 18-year-old Aladeselu Margaret Ayomikun describes how the pitfalls of her country’s university system are failing young women like her. More from Aladeselu at the link in our bio.
created Assembly to amplify young women’s voices. Today she’s asking you to listen to Afghan girls and women.
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