About Me:
I am a very fortunate
person. Life offered me much more then I could ever imagine, I got my
freedom, education, opportunities and power of decision making that no
other girl in my family or community could get. In a way I lived my life
distributed between two very distinct realities: one my original
inheritance, the second my gained identity.
My
original inheritance is that I belong to a tribal community in the
Balochistan province of Pakistan, to a society where traditions fix the
fate of each girl. But luck turned out that I became the first girl in
my community who could get her education in Karachi, and I was provided
every opportunity to grow and learn and encouraged to speak my mind.
My
freedom every second became the nagging influence on my choosing to
step forward and try my hardest to change the lives of other girls in my
community who still live the life of a slave to the negative tribal
traditions like exchange marriages, early marriages, arranged marriages,
gender discrimination, exchange of girls to solve conflicts and even
honor killings. Thus at the age of 16 I started my real journey and its
been a tremendous success in the form of Sughar!
About Sughar Women Program:
From centuries women in
tribal communities around the world have been facing injustice the form
of tradition by being exchanged for marriages, to be married off in
childhood, to be given off in solving tribal disputes and even to be
killed in the name of honor.
Sughar
(in local language means skilled and confident woman) is an initiative
aimed at ending the negative customs like honor killings, exchanges marriages, child marriages by promoting and magnifying the
beautiful traditions and providing socio-economic empowerment to women n tribal areas of Pakistan.
Sughar
Program establishes Women Learning and Skill Development Centers in
selected rural communities where each Center offers a 6 month course to
tribal rural women on value-adding and renovating the traditional
embroidery and also provide basic education and literacy skills and
raise awareness of rural women which builds their capacities towards
decision making and contribution in their households and lives.
The
embroidery is later marketed via various means including Marketplaces
of PDI and various exhibitions and stalls around Pakistan. While each
course offers a minimum loan to each woman after graduating to initiate
Primary Production Units at their homes thus promoting women
entrepreneurship.
Why SOCAP Matters?
Because SOCAP is the first ever opportunity for Sughar and our team
to enter into a Market where the value of service comes first, SOCAP 2011 is going to be the gathering
of investors and entrepreneurs who are willing to share, learn and understand about money+meaning. This would be a really great opportunity for Sughar to grow as an organization and take back support in the form of networks, connections and even capital to scale our work in Pakistan!
What and How much we need?
SOCAP have already provided me an entrepreneur scholarship to the event, which allows me a total free entry into the four day event, I also have my USA visa. What I only need support in is air tickets and accommodation in
San Francisco. Your support in even the smallest amount would be a step
further in my making it to SOCAP and enabling Sughar to find supporters
in our cause at this great event!
My return ticket to and from San Francisco would cost: 1,039 $ (This is the half of
the total amount as half of the support is coming from Oxfam!)
My per night room payment needs for 4 nights are: 240 $
Other Ways You Can Help:
Share this campaign with three other people who you think would be willing to help!
Or let us know if you are coming to SOCAP and we can meet up to discuss some really cool strategies to help further improve our work!
