Life has not always been easy for Hanifa, a resilient mother living in rural Afghanistan. Living with her husband and eight children, Hanifa was married at age 14, and became a mother at just 15.
Spending her whole life caring for others, she became her family’s sole breadwinner when her husband began to face severe health challenges. Hanifa recalled how tough this period of their life was: "We were vulnerable and could not meet our children’s basic needs, as our income was very limited."
Fortunately, Hanifa's life took a positive turn when she enrolled on Afghanaid’s project supporting women to become small business owners.
“Afghanaid gave me the opportunity to become self-sufficient,” she told us, “I worked for 4 years learning on this project and became the leader of my self-help group.”
Find out more about Afghanaid's innovative self-help groups.
“We received 15,000 AFN from the project for our self-help group for use as a rotating loan. I also participated in leadership, marketing and management training, and a dairy processing vocational course - learning how to make good quality yoghurt, cheese, butter and cream. I was able to earn money and meet the needs of my family."
Feeling inspired by her new found skills, Hanifa chose to enrol in a night school to make up for the education she missed out on in her younger years. She successfully completed up to grade 12 in her studies, but due to the recent ban on women from secondary education, has still not received her high school diploma.
