Jano Mangall didn’t expect much when her AP biology teacher suggested she join the Youth Artivism Academy over spring break last year.
“It was just like something to fill my time,” the 18-year-old transgender woman recalls, choosing to participate in something new instead of spending her time off from school at home.
What she found instead was a life-changing community.
“This has been my therapy,” she says. “This is very healing for me.”
Mangall returned this year to the Youth Artivism Academy, a weeklong program hosted by Jahajee — a gender justice organization rooted in the Indo-Caribbean community. The academy invites girls and non-binary teens to explore identity, culture and social justice through creative expression. Meeting in Richmond Hill, Queens, home to one of the largest Indo-Caribbean communities in the country, participants immerse themselves in workshops on dance, spoken word, music, history and healing.
For Mangall, who is of Guyanese descent, the experience offered something that can be hard to find: a safe space. While her family has been very supportive since she came out two years ago, Mangall has still struggled with self-confidence, especially within a culture where she says being part of the LGBTQ community can often carry a sense of shame. The Youth Artivism Academy gave her the freedom to embrace who she is.
“I love to sing and dance,” she says. “Everybody in here loves our stuff, and they express it in any form. So I’ve really grown to just love everybody and love the comfort that comes with us being here around people that love the same things that I do.”
That same sense of comfort and connection resonated with 13-year-old Makayla Chaitram, who is of Jamaican heritage. This was her first year participating in the academy.
“It really got me to connect with people like me because there’s not a lot of people that I could talk with that have the same things that I’ve gone through or a lot of similarities.”
Makayla says she has often faced teasing from her peers, not just because of her internship with the school’s principal, but also because of her Indo-Caribbean identity. She believes the two are connected and that her cultural background makes her more of a target.
“A lot of people say a lot of words to me, how I’m just doing this to be a teacher’s pet,” Makayla adds, referring to the support she receives from her principal with scholarships and college preparation.
It’s a situation that has been hurtful for her. But through the Youth Artivism Academy, Makayla began using poetry as a way to respond to the negativity from her classmates and embrace her identity with confidence.
“It shows me that I should be proud of what I say and where I come from no matter what people say,” she adds. “Take that hate and take it into motivation. Give yourself motivation from the hate to keep on going because people are still going to hate on you for what you do. The best thing is that you don’t give up and that you keep on doing what you have to do.”
Her mother, Nadia Chaitram, says the transformation was immediate.
“Every minute she come home she tell me, ‘Mom, I learn so much different things,’” she says as she looks at her daughter with a smile. “I’m happy for this place and I’m so proud that she reach so far here.”
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Makayla and Mangall were among a dozen participants in this year’s academy, which culminated in a vibrant community showcase. Family and friends gathered to witness the teens perform their original poetry, music and dance pieces — each a reflection of their journeys throughout the week. Spoken word facilitator Helena Rampersaud, an artist who works with Jahajee, guided students through the creative process by introducing them to Indo-Caribbean poets such as Guyana’s Mahadai Das, whose work often explored themes of cultural identity, resistance and belonging.
“We explored the idea that poetry is more than just something that is written down,” Rampersaud explains. “Poetry is moments of joy, moments of learning, moments of pain and growth […] We use it as a tool to express things about our community that we love and also things that we want to change.”
That exploration extended to spiritual and cultural roots Rampersaud says are often left out of mainstream narratives, especially those tied to Indo-Caribbean identity. Through the program, students learned about Hindu culture, traditional chants and the history of their ancestors in the Caribbean, offering them a deeper understanding of practices and experiences rarely represented in U.S. media.
“They loved the music, the food, the accents, the phrases they hear walking down the street,” she adds. “They loved the sense of pride that they realize is not just in them, but that they all share together.”
For Jahajee, that sense of cultural reclamation is central to its mission.
There’s an importance of needing to understand your identity and your culture,” says Co-Founder and Executive Director Simone Jhingoor. “Many have grown up in Guyana and Trinidad and come here and now they’re negotiating a dual identity of being Caribbean and also now trying to understand how to be American.”
That’s something Mangall, who identifies as Hindu, knows firsthand. She says the Youth Artivism Academy helped her educate others about Dharmic culture, particularly by challenging common misunderstandings around Hindu practices and spirituality.
“That’s a very misconceptualized part of Hinduism. People associate it with negative things,” she says. “I got to share mantras and help people actually understand what we’re doing and why we sing for God.”
Her mother, Sherry Mangall, believes the program has been vital in her daughter’s self-acceptance.
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“I could just see the happiness,” her mother says. “She’s able to be her authentic self.”
As for Mangall, the takeaway from the experience has been profound.
“That’s why I love coming back,” she says of her second year at the Youth Artivism Academy. “It’s like an outlet to help everybody. It’s just a good place.”
