Ms. Asma Mohammed, 19, has never visualized the moment she would find herself a mother of a five-year-old girl, yet divorced, her father died before, and she had to make ends meet for herself, her mother and her sister. Thrown into this path of struggle and patience, Ms. Asma has never given up. She made the right decision to change her life for better and started to learn sewing and made her way up to tailoring women’s clothes and selling their accessories in every gathering she could meet women. She was not happy to see that some women looking down upon her as a woman selling stuff of less quality and yet she was doing her best to market her products.

Experiencing all this plenty of pain, Ms. Asma was more determined to carry on and live the life with its ups and downs. She got to know from her brother and neighbor about Tadhafur for Save Age of Marriage Program. The Program was at the time on the lookout for divorcees and widows. Joining Tadhafur for Save Age of Marriage Program, Ms. Asma was armed with the hope that the Program would be the destination for her to develop her sewing skills and to use new sophisticated sewing equipment that would allow her to tailor new clothes more attractive to a wider customer base.  

Tadhafur for Save Age of Marriage Program, delivered by YLDF in coordination with UNICEF, aims to stress the importance of the safe age of marriage, empowers young girls, provides them with knowledge, life and social skills, economic support and access to services. Additionally, the Program has been a credit for developing Ms. Asma’s skills at financial, personal and family levels. She has advanced from sewing the women robes to sewing dresses and the number of dresses she sews amounts sometimes to 30 dresses. Thus, she was able to sustain herself financially and has further bought a solar panel that she dedicated to sewing. She was then able to extend her sewing equipment to sew school uniform in big quantities and also the party uniforms at schools. As such, Ms. Asma managed to secure a sustained income not only for herself but also for her daughter who preferred to live with her mother to the stay with her father.

Ms. Asma turned from a girl affected with weakness and burdened with the responsibility to earn living to a girl full of strength, skill and capabilities to make a living for herself and her family. She has become a girl who is ambitious enough to develop herself further.  Tadhafur for Save Age of Marriage Program has also assisted Ms. Asma to defeat her inner fear and come out to face her society environment successfully.

No matter how much the barriers of fear, helplessness and lack of resourcefulness stand in our faces, there are always outlets that change our lives so that we stand up again equipped with strength, skill and countless ways to make a living. Ms. Asma and Tadhafur for Save Age of Marriage Program are our two role models!