My name is Amirat and I am 15 years old.

In my community, most parents believe girls have no business being in school. They think education corrupts girls. They also think it will make it difficult for us to find husbands. They say men don’t like educated women.

Luckily, my parents think every child whether boy or girl deserves to go to school. I think so too.

This is why I started a “learning club” two months ago. With the club, I was hoping to help girls who are not in school learn a skill, or how to read.

In the beginning, it was difficult to get girls to join. My only member was my neighbor Mariam. We met once a week in the evening at our compound.

Rather than get discouraged, I started thinking up ways to get more girls to join.

Then it occurred to me, If I can get my community leader to support the project, parents will encourage their daughters to join.

I told my dad about my plan. I asked if he could help me get the community leader to see me and listen to my ideas.

It took several visits before we were able to see our community leader. I shared my ideas with him. I asked if he could help me inform parents about the club.

Surprisingly, he agreed to send out the town crier to inform people about the club.

At first, some parents were hesitant to let their daughters join. But as I started to speak to more parents using the town crier, more girls started to join.

Today we have 15 members. Through the club, girls have learned how to braid, fix electronics and most importantly read.

But I didn’t do this all by myself. I did this with the help of my mother who taught the girls how to braid and my father who taught them how to fix minor electrical appliances.

I am happy that I was able to help in my own way.

Just like Amirat, you also can start up something. No help is too little.