By: Shehneela Mazhar
Khola Saeed Raja is a Summer Sisters Program alumna from 2016 and a strong advocate of women empowerment, particularly for women in her region, Kashmir. Through her small projects, she aims to uplift the spirits of the often-neglected Kashmiri women. Currently, she is working on a startup that promotes the skills of Kashmiri women in creating handmade products, which she intends to showcase at international platforms. Her efforts to empower girls through sports resulted in the first-ever football event for females in Kashmir, where 60 girls were trained and participated in the first Kashmir Women’s Football League.
Under the Alumni Small Grant Program funded by the U.S. Mission to Pakistan, Khola carried out a grant project called “She Can Goal.” Her motivations for this project were to provide exposure to sports, particularly football, for girls in Kashmir and to empower them through sports.
The girls who participated in Khola’s football initiative became more confident and physically fit by the end of the project. However, the most significant impact was the change in mindset of the people and community this project has brought. According to Zahra, the captain of the Gojira School team, “On the first day of training, we could not even take one round for warmup, but now I can run with a football all day.” Saniya, the captain of the Lower Chatter team, added, “My mother says no girl in the family has played any sports before, and you also don’t need to but ut I have also decided that I will play football no matter what.” These testimonials illustrate the positive impact that Khola’s project had on the girls’ physical health, confidence, and mindset.
Khola believes that working with the U.S. Mission and the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN) was a great experience, and she is grateful for their support in turning her dream of bringing football to Kashmir for females into a reality.
For those interested in following Khola’s work can visit her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/tv/CiLFV5aobk9/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y or Facebook page https://fb.watch/for3kIwyAW
