Samera Hadi


Samera Hadi is a Yemeni American from San Jose, CA. After working for years helping California students from diverse cultural and schooling backgrounds navigate higher education, she moved to Chicago and began working more intensively with refugee high school girls seeking educational and social support.  She is now embarking upon the journey of motherhood as she raises her two daughters full-time.

 
 

Samera explores the necessary act of healing her younger self upon transitioning into motherhood. With the birth of her second daughter, and in order to be fully present in her role as a mother, she must acknowledge the little girl in her that was never seen. As she embarks on this blessed journey, she has continued to try to reconcile her childhood experiences with the things that she has experienced as a child versus the life experiences she is creating with her own daughters.

 

Letter to my younger self

 

Dear little one,

I see you.

I know that's a foreign concept to you, being seen. Looked at not for your flaws or what makes you different, but what makes you… you.

I see you.

I see your potential. Your God-given qualities that you don't notice now; but when you do, the world will be so different for you.

I see you.

I see your drive, your hustle, your discipline. Blessings to help you get out, reach out to something bigger than what you ever imagined.

I see you.

I see your fierce loyalty–the aspect of you that is easily taken advantage of. The love you give that isn't always returned.

I see you.

I see the sadness behind your eyes. The lack of words to express yourself or your emotions. I see your need to feel included…. to be included…. to find a REAL community by which you’re nurtured, not drained or judged.

I see you.

I see all of you. Your whole self, and not just the parts that you think others want to see. Little one, I see you, and what I see is a gem.

I see you.

I see the light inside of you that makes you special, that makes you glow. That defines all that is you…Muslim, Yemeni, Sister, Daughter….

I see you.

I see Al-Latif in you. I see your warmth, your heart, your soul; everything that is created by the One that creates us all.

I see you.

I see the beauty that lies beneath the surface, the parts of you that allow you to forgive and forget, to push through and still see the silver lining in it all.

I see you.

I see your silliness, the laughter that comes from the bottom of your belly and bursts out loud with no hesitation. I see your smile, the symbol of your joy.

I see you.

Little one, you may look at yourself through other people's eyes, blinded by the limitations that they may place on you. But know that, when you really look within, you’ll see the real you. The girl that Allah created, and He makes no mistakes.

You are, and will always be, enough. Tie your heart to the One who created it, and you can never be lost, little one.

-Love,

Your Future self.