CHARLOTTE — It’s summer camp season, and one Charlotte woman is offering a group of girls the chance to build sisterhood while learning to twist, twirl, and tie.
Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz paid a visit to Lisa Kinchen, and she’s teaching these young girls how to do all things hair through the Zeporah Foundation’s eight-week summer camp.
“Do you see this middle piece here, it’s kind of thin ... you gotta part from ear to ear,” Kinchen said, advising the group of girls.
But Kinchen’s summer camp offers much more than the combing and braiding.
“We seek to give them something that they’re not able to get on an everyday basis,” Kinchen said. “We learn about community, we learn about family, trust, we learn how important it is to have someone in your life.”
Girls like 11-year-old Marley are benefiting from it. In December, she lost her mother to heart failure. But now she has this: lessons alongside a sisterhood of girls.
“You’re used to sitting between your mother’s knees at night and she’s braiding your hair and getting your hair ready for the next day, so now she doesn’t have that,” Kinchen said.
The girls are from all over our region in the Carolinas, including Troutman, Gastonia, Rock Hill, Huntersville, and of course, Charlotte. Some of them pay a fee, but some of them are sponsored to go to the camp. The cost, though, is little compared to what Kinchen says they’re getting out of it.
“Showing them how important it is to embrace who they are and how God made them ... it’s so important for a young Black girl to love what comes from her scalp,” Kinchen said.
It’s a mission of love and beauty, inspiring young girls for a lifetime.
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