A couple of weeks ago, Iris Vang, 17, a youth leader with Faith in Merced's Leadership Academy, had the opportunity to attend the 2017 Sisterhood Rising Camp in Portola, Calif. Spending a week in nature connecting with her cultural and ancestral roots inspired her to write about her experience as a young Hmong-American woman. Her poem ‘My Body’ is full of vivid imagery and is an ode to her culture.
At camp, I wasn’t just given a definition of “woman” to absorb. I learned that being a “womyn” (as opposed to a wo-MAN) is about how I define myself, not how society defines me. Being a womyn is about taking charge of your own life.