MELODY KO PHOTOGRAPHY

color america: Sophia's Ramadan

Sophia Esmail, 15, of Andover, Mass., practices and preserves her Muslim faith by observing Ramadan, despite the cultural and racial challenges she faces as a first generation teenager living in the United States.

These images were made on the last day of Ramadan 2004.

Sophia Esmail, 15, right, of Andover, prays at the newly built mosque in Billerica in observance of Ramadan, a month-long Muslim holiday.
   
The men pray below while the women pray separately upstairs in an enclosed area of the mosque.
   
Muslim men pray in the central quarters of the mosque while women pray on the balcony above.
     
  
After prayer, the women and men break the fast in separate quarters.
   
Sophia Esmail laughs with friends as they break the fast at the mosque in Billerica.
   
Zainab Doctor, 12, of Andover rests after breaking her fast for Ramadan at the mosque in Billerica.