“Nafeesa was only 14, when she was married off to a man who was ten years older than her. The marriage turned out to be a complicated one, riddled with abuse. However, a staunch observer of cultural norms, Nafeesa decided to keep all of this to herself. Just a year ago, Nafeesa’s husband, with whom she had raised 6 children, informed her that he was in fact, homosexual. She then had to return to her parent’s home without a penny to her name.

On finding out about CSC’s ‘Enhanced Women’s Socio Economic Development’ Programme, she reached out to the team for a micro-loan. Nafeesa was already a skilled tailor and CSC deemed it beneficial to build upon her existing talents and gave extensive training through professional tailors and designers to improve her skills. After the training was complete CSC provided Nafeesa with all the basic materials and equipment required to open her own sewing unit.

She has started to earn enough money to take care of her children and aims to improve her income so that she can send her kids to school. Nafeesa, with the help of the paralegal trainer at CSC, filed a lawsuit against her husband for alimony. Her husband currently lives among the transgender community of the city and as a result of his changing whereabouts, her lawyers have not been able to ensure monthly payments from her husband. But, her lawyers will be filing for divorce so that Nafeesa can put all this behind her.”