First Steps Towards Interfaith Understanding: Salma Kamni

When 17-year-old Salma Kamni encountered religious intolerance and Islamophobia in her own community in Chicago, Illinois, she took action by starting Converge Interfaith, an organization to promote acceptance and interfaith discussion. She aims to create “a global community that is aware and accepting of other religions.”

Salma experimented to refine the idea, starting with in-person workshops before taking the initiative online. Today, Converge hosts podcasts that feature two people of different religious identities discussing how they approach a given topic, and publishes columns that address modern issues through different religious lenses. Converge also continues to host in-person events to help youth promote acceptance in their own communities.

Ashoka Young Changemaker Manat Kaur spoke with Salma to learn more about her changemaking journey and the first steps she took to start her project.