Janet Lee Elementary School’s Deema Abdel Hafeez aims to be heard, inspire change (Stoney Creek News)

Deema Abdel Hafeez believes it’s important to speak up.

So the 14-year-old Janet Lee Elementary School Grade 8 student decided to enter the eighth annual Speaker’s Idol competition organized by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Ontario elementary school Grade 6 to 8 students were invited to pen a speech commenting on Holocaust survivor Wiesenthal’s quote, “I believe in the good in people,” while reflecting on how to create positive change in the world, as part of a first round in February.

Hafeez, who wrote about being a young Muslim female and her experiences with Islamophobia, says with all that’s happening in the world, all of the negativity, it can be hard to automatically believe in the good in people.

“I cannot say that I always can see the good in people,” she said. “It takes time and takes experience to become as ‘good’ as that. But as I learn, and as others attempt the journey with me, there is one thing we should all keep in mind — the first step to believing in the good in people is becoming the good yourself.”

Hafeez’s words struck a chord.

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