Sophia Michaels
Nicki Minaj is giving back.
The superstar rapper returned to her native Trinidad and Tobago this week. During her visit to the St. Jude’s Home for Girls on Thursday, the Queen pledged a generous donation of $25,000 to assist the young girls at the school.
“So I wanna thank you for your work with the girls,” said Nicki. “I wanna thank you for giving them hope and inspiration, and they’ve even given me hope and inspiration being here today. And I wanna donate $25,000 to help the girls.”
She plans to do even more to help her community including building a recreational center. “I came to get ideas and you guys gave me a lot of great ideas in creating a building here in Trinidad where young people can go to and have recreational fun,” she added.
While speaking with the students, Nicki recalled her troubled childhood and offered them hope. “I’ve experienced being in a home with domestic violence. I’ve experienced being at a very difficult crossroad in my life as a teenager and sometimes as a teenager when things happen you feel like there’s no up from there,” she said. “It feels so difficult when you’re going through it, but you will get out of it.”
Added Minaj, “I was one of those girls that experienced being pregnant as a teenager and I was so ashamed to have to tell my mother that. To this day, I never told my mother. I felt like I let myself down and I felt like if anybody was to find out, they would be ashamed of me.”
But she promised them that things get better. “If you have to use my life as a lesson in the fact that there is always better days ahead. I want you guys to be encouraged. I want you guys to know that God didn’t promise us a problem-free life,” she said. “But there has to be something inside of you, even right now today, that decides you’re gonna win no matter what, no matter what comes at you, no matter what was already said about you, no matter if you don’t have your parents, no matter if you don’t have family. You have to know and decide today, right now, that you are gonna be one of the ones in this room that wins.”
As she left, she was swarmed by young fans who hoped to catch a glimpse of the hometown hero in her car.
It’s been an eventful week for the “Yikes” MC. Earlier in the week, she dressed up and paraded through the streets of Trinidad for Carnival.
Written by: Rap
