1. My name is Fatema Aliraza Khimji. I am 11 years old and live  in a small city called Kortrijk in Belgium. My school is called “De Levensboom” which means “The Life Tree” and I am in grade 5. We speak Dutch (Flemish) in school. My little brother Miqdad and I are the only Muslims in our whole school! My hobbies are art and craft, sports and computer. I go for handball training and I also like to play badminton, tennis, and basketball. Once a week I go to the “Art Academy” for art lessons. Here, we do not have a special madressa to attend to for muslim children, but my brother and I have madressa at home with our mum.

2. One of the biggest challenges faced by young shia sisters is Hijab! A muslim girl in Hijab has to give up a lot for e.g. from the age of 9 I cannot go for swimming(one of my favourite sport) anymore  as boys and girls swim together and  there aren’t any exceptions for muslim girls.
People sometimes give you a hard look for being in Hijab and some children think I am crazy for having it on. I try my best to explain to them its importance, but its not so easy to convince them.
Having a different background and culture especially being a muslim, people will not easily be friends with you nor play with you what you like to play. Sometimes during play time in school, my friends play haraam games like poker and chess etc.. and I refuse to play with them which is difficult as then I have to play on my own. Another challenge that we all face here is the food. There is so much haraam food around us that we have to be extra careful in everything that we eat. Most of my friends in school eat sweets etc… which look so delicious and tempting but I cannot eat them as they are haraam and when we have school  trips or programs then also I cannot share a meal with my friends as most of the time there is haraam food and najaasat everywhere.

3. To believe in Allah and to keep up their faith in Allah although they face lots of difficulties in their country. Remember, Imam-e-Zamana is always  there to guide us and help us  too.
No matter where we are  always shine as a Shia Muslim with pride!
May Allah give us the strength to overcome our challenges as muslims wherever we are and not get misled by shaitan(amen).

4. History of our Masoomins (a.s.) like e.g. In Muharram the life history of Imam Husain (a.s.) etc.. and also other histories like in Ramadhan the story of the battle of Badr etc… even better if there are films or stories with pictures to make it more fun.