I come from a family, where it wasn’t easy for me to have dreams. No one in my family had received education, and the same was applicable for me as well. Despite her inclination towards studies, my mother was not allowed to go to school. But she had a dream for me that I get educated and become an independent woman when I grow up. She bravely told her wish to my father, who opposed and threatened her with dire consequences. He said we don’t have money to fund my education and moreover, there is no point providing education to girls. They just have to sit at home and perform household chores. What good would education do? But my mother stood by her decision, fought against all odds and managed to send me to a government school. She promised to my father that she will take care of my education expenses and would never ask him for money.” Afreen hails from a family where neither her mother, grandmother, nor her aunts had received education. None of the women in the family had been to a school.

Though Afreen started school, it wasn’t easy for her and her mother. She tells that her father used to fight a lot with her mother and would always point out her education to be the cause of shortage of food, clothes and day-to-day expenses. “There were times I used to hold my books and cry silently as my mother continued to brave the harsh words hurled at her.” Her father was not the only one who had problems with her education; there were relatives who would say things that made it more difficult for Afreen to continue with her studies. “While some of my relatives would come to my home and advise my father to get me out of school as it was leaving a bad impression on their children, others had stopped talking to my family”. Amidst all these struggles, Afreen managed to study till class 10th.