New Delhi, July 21, 2010
Fed up of the relentless bullying by her schoolmates, 5th-grader Ziainey Stokes decided to approach US President Barack Obama directly. The president not only responded to her letter but also inspired her to start a national anti-bullying organisation.The girl not only mentioned her own problem
but also addressed the problem of bullying in general in her school.
“What I wrote about (in my letter) was that the kids at my school were being bullied and how it wasn’t right,” Ziainey tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. The president, who reads 10 letters from the public each day and personally answers a handful, replied: “Your letter demonstrates a desire to change the culture of your classroom as well as your community.”
Ziainey is now recruiting people for her still-unnamed group and researching similar organizations. “She’s really taken an initiative,” says her mom, “and I stand by her.”
