Project STORY leadership event helps girls recognize their own talents and abilities

By JAMIE L. COSTA

Monitor staff

Published: 03-02-2023 5:20 PM

The Bank of New Hampshire Stage filled with shouts and cheers coming from dozens of New American youth who chanted positive affirmations in unison. 

“I love myself. I am enough. I am a strong Black woman,” they yelled. 

The power of their words electrified the room, bringing feelings of excitement and power as their self-consciousness evaporated. Then they sat in silence to let the words sink in as they locked eyes with each other and smiled.  

“Did you all feel that?” asked Charm Camacho, founder of Project S.T.O.R.Y., which stands for Supporting Talents of Rising Youth. “Because I felt that. That was incredible.”

Through Project S.T.O.R.Y, a non-profit with the mission of supporting and empowering New American and refugee youth, Camacho often hosts leadership events to help young people develop their character and find their purpose. On Wednesday, more than thirty girls aged six to 16 piled into the venue to make bracelets, share a meal together and talk about their unique talents. 

Sumra Silva, 25, of Concord led the group through an exercise focused on positive affirmations. Two plants sit side by side in a room together, she said. They receive the same amount of water and the same amount of sunlight but each day, one plant is told it’s beautiful and it’s strong and it will grow to be great while the other plant is told it’s ugly and unsuccessful and will fail. One plant grew strong and healthy while the other plant wilted and died. 

“This is scientifically proven to have an effect when we speak positively to ourselves and about ourselves,” Silva said. “What we say to ourselves impacts our growth and our health, even if it’s hard sometimes.”

Growing up in Bow in a predominantly white town as a young Black girl from Ethiopia, Silva was made to feel like she wasn’t smart or beautiful because of the texture of her hair and the color of her skin, she said. She started to believe what people told her. 

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“One day, I said to myself, ‘yeah, maybe I am different, but different doesn’t mean any less,’” she said. “You have to tell yourself what you want to believe. ‘I am enough. I am a leader. Mistakes help me grow. I am proud of myself.’ When we say it, it becomes true.”

Leading the girls through their own positive affirmation exercise, she asked them to take one sticky note and write down things they are proud of and things they like about themselves. When the girls were told they’d be asked to share their words, many began to erase them.

“It’s so easy to tell a friend they’re beautiful and smart but when it comes to telling that to ourselves, it’s hard,” Silva said. “But the more we do it, and the more vulnerable we are, the easier it becomes.”

Sharing became optional and many girls echoed each other. “I am a good daughter, I am a good sister, I am a kind friend, I am smart, I am proud of myself,” they said. After the exercise, the girls took a few minutes to mingle with one another, make dancing videos and pick at the food catered by Batulo’s Kitchen, famous for her Somali hand-held pies. 

“There is so much potential, so much intelligence and so much leadership in this room,” Camacho said. “I did not expect this many girls to come out tonight and it’s such a positive thing to have them all here together.” 

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