Posted by Jake Matysek on Sep 08, 2021

My name is Queen Balina, and I’m a senior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. I’m also a member of PeaceJam Mid-Atlantic’s Youth Advisory Council. I heard about the Rotary Club and all the wonderful work you do from Luke Addison from Winchester Rotary in the U.K., who is also active in both PeaceJam and Rotary International. PeaceJam is an international organization that mentors youth in the mold of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. It has worked with 1.3 million youth in 41 countries since it was founded in 1996. It works to bring the new ideas, perspectives, and approaches of younger generations to the forefront of change. Under the guidance of PeaceJam, I have collaborated with three other young leaders to establish Sankofa Empowering Women in Ghana (SEWING), a women’s economic empowerment project. Through SEWING, we aim to leverage our partnerships in the area – particularly with members of PeaceJam Ghana – to connect young women to job training opportunities and hopefully end a cycle of poverty and exploitative labor practices.