Help Atefah Pursue her Dreams
My name is Jumakhan Rahyab and I am fundraising for Atefah Hassani. Atefah is competent, dedicated and ambitious. She has never given to fight for her dreams. Here is the next chapter she is about to write. Please read her story below in her own words, and help another dream of hers come true.
I was fourteen when I decided to do something that would change the financial situation of my family. At that time, my father was the only breadwinner in our family, and he was not earning enough to provide for all of our needs of the family. I knew that I needed to give him a hand and support my father in his struggle.
Motivated to help my family, I - in 2006 - took my first step by working in a supermarket as a cashier in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. After two years of hard work and saving some of my earnings, I was able to bootstrap my own small supermarket in our village in Mazar-e-Sharif. While I was just a teenager, I was brave and ambitious enough to manage my business with the support of my father, and the trustworthy relationship that I could build with vendors.
The earnings from my business enabled me and my two sisters to continue our education while I was working at the same time. And given that my supermarket’s success channeled my interest in the fields of business, I completed my high school education in 2010 and, later, after I performed well on the annual public universities’ entry exam, I secured a seat at the Economic Faculty of Balkh University. I graduated in 2015 with a degree in Business and Management with excellent grades (GPA3.5). I also used my entrepreneurial experience to share lessons with my university classmates: with encouragement of our lecturers; I and a group of like-minded classmates initiated the first Economic Association at our faculty. I was responsible for convening and presenting on topics related to economic and business amongst the university’s economic scholar community.
A year after my graduation, in January 2016, I was forced in an arranged marriage by my family. This lead me into a dark period of personal depression, during which the only solace I could find was my plans and dreams to build a path towards independence through a professional career and further education. I realized I must make a change and take ownership over my life: I sold my supermarket, gave the proceeds to my family, and then convinced my parents that I was not ready for marriage. I made up my mind to move to Kabul to find a fresh start looking for a job and a scholarship for further studies.
Despite the challenges of moving away from my family as a single woman, I relocated to Kabul and chased my dreams. In February 2016, I got my first job at NHLP/MAIL a World Bank project as a Senior Marketing & Database officer. In 2018, I received an offer to become The Bayat Foundation’s Project Manager and, after one year, I was promoted to the role of Country Project Manager.
Having lived through poverty and grown up in a war zone country, and experiencing the impact that it had upon my sisters’ and my dreams of obtaining even a basic education, my lifetime goal is to help Afghanistan address and alleviate poverty. Starting my small-scale business in my village in 2008 not only has changed my life, but also the lives of my sisters. I realized the power and potential that such small-scale businesses can generate not only in terms of income for families under the poverty-line, but also the potential to create dozens of jobs that would help change the social status and living standards of others, especially women-led families in rural areas. Moreover, being financially stable it means freedom, and freedom of choice especially for women.
It has been six years that I am working with different organizations, where I could gain tremendous experience and gain knowledge. However, I have felt that it is the right time to go back to academic life and become an expert and specialist in my field. Being in the process of looking for master’s opportunities, I have received an admission from Leipzig University, in SMEs development – MBA program in Germany. I believe by studying this program and considering my previous background, I would be able to help my communities better and more professionally. However, I have not enough fund to cover my educational expenses during my studies. I am 8.000$ behind the required budget. I am trying my best that this amount of money should not stop me from achieving my dreams. I am confident that this educational opportunity will ultimately help me to realize my dream of helping more people, especially young women, to avoid having to make the sacrifices I made to support my family in the early years of my schooling.
With your generous support, you will give a kind hand to an Afghan woman who will be a voice to voiceless women.
