According to the UN’s International Migration Report 2006, more people live outside their country of birth today than at any time in history – and the numbers of people who move across international borders are expected to continue to rise in the future.

And immigrants aren’t the only population whose profile is on the rise. From The Girl Effect and Half The Sky to the 2015 update of the Millennium Development Goals, the power that girls have to transform their communities, their nations, and the world is finally coming into the spotlight.

Girls’ voices and immigrant voices matter, within their communities and to our nation as a whole. But too often, the experience of being both an immigrant and a girl in the world is one of being silenced. It is crucial to honor the voices of immigrant girls, and reinforce the truth that they do matter.

Walk In My Shoes

Walk In My Shoes is a series of six digital storytelling workshops for immigrant and refugee teenage girls at Oakland International High School. With this project, the girls will invite readers to walk in their shoes: see through their eyes, hear the soundtrack of their lives, and follow the path of their journey.

The project will offer girls practical training in self-definition and the crafting of rich stories, increase their proficiency with media and digital technologies, help them to interrupt immigrant stereotypes that restrict their life paths to doctors or domestic workers with no middle ground, foster cross-cultural connections, and bolster confidence.

I understand the pressures faced by first generation Americans: to perform, to succeed. But there is also a space for those who document, and keep the story for those who went before and those who will follow. So while I’m still not going to med school (hi, Mom and Dad!) – implementing this project is a huge step forward in my American dream.

About The Founder

Hi! I’m Adwoa. The child of West African immigrants, I’ve lived and worked on three continents as a writer, editor, language teacher, and communications consultant. Currently I’m at Mills College in Oakland, where I was awarded a fellowship in writing and community engagement. Walk in My Shoes is the core phase of my fellowship project.