My name is Anam Ahmed, and I am writing this with a broken heart and trembling hands.

I am an international student from Pakistan studying at the University of North Texas. I came to this country with nothing but hope, faith, and the belief that education could save me. I believed that if I worked hard, stayed focused, and followed the rules, I could build a future where I would never have to beg, depend, or be powerless.

Education was my escape. It was my dignity. It was my way out.

I never imagined that the person who would destroy my sense of safety would be my own father.

During winter break, my father suddenly cut off all financial support and completely abandoned me. He stopped speaking to me. He stopped caring whether I lived or died. This happened because one of his friends—someone who had been intrusively involved in my life here, fed him lies about me. Instead of protecting his daughter, my father chose to believe them.

What he said to me will haunt me for the rest of my life.

He told me to go beg on the streets.

He told me to sleep outside.

He told me he did not care if I survived or not.

And then he said the most horrifying thing a parent could ever say to their child. He told me to sell my body to survive. He said I would “earn good money because I am young.”

I cannot describe the pain of hearing that from my own father. In that moment, I felt stripped of my humanity. I felt like my life no longer had value to the person who brought me into this world. I felt disposable.

Overnight, I became completely alone in a foreign country.

I have no family here. No relatives. No protection. My mother is a single parent and does not have the means to help me. I was abandoned thousands of miles from home with no money, no support, and no safety net.

Before my father cut me off, one of his friends and his family claimed they were “looking after” me. Instead, they controlled me. They pressured me to spend weekends at their house, pulled me away from my studies, and treated me less like a student and more like someone they could use. I was expected to take care of their child and comply with their demands. I felt trapped, watched, and emotionally exhausted. When I finally created distance to protect myself, everything collapsed.

Now I am paying the price for choosing my safety.

Today, I am extremely vulnerable.

I have no funds left. I am struggling to afford food, rent, and basic necessities. My tuition for this semester is $12,332. If I cannot pay for the first installment by February 20, I will be dropped from my classes and lose my legal student status. That would mean losing my education and possibly being forced out of the country, alone, traumatized, and with nothing.

My rent is $844 a month, plus utilities. Starting February, I do not know where I will go or how I will survive.

I am trying everything. I am applying for jobs. I am working with my university. I reached out to couple of attorney’s about this situation and one attorney out of compassion is helping me file for Severe Economic Hardship work authorization but this process takes months. Months I do not have.

I am scared. I am exhausted. And I am asking for help because I have run out of options.

I am not lazy. I am not irresponsible. I am a young woman who came here to study and was abandoned, emotionally abused, and pushed toward danger by the very people who were supposed to protect me.

I am asking for urgent help, not for comfort, not for luxury, but for survival. For the chance to stay enrolled, stay housed, and stay safe long enough to rebuild my life.

If you are reading this, please understand how vulnerable I am right now. Your help could protect me from homelessness, exploitation, and losing everything I have worked for.

Please help me survive this.

With all my heart,

Anam Ahmed