Twenty four year old Sanam dropped out of a high school. Her mother supported her to learn driving through Azad Foundation. But her father and elder brother pressured her to get married – her family engaged Sanam to her cousin when she was young. Despite the pressure she managed to enroll herself for Azad’s training programme with her mum’s backing. But the going was not easy. Her father and brother continued to insist she gets married. Sanam did not relent and kept delaying the matter for as long as she could.

“I even brought my fiancé to the Azad office to convince him that what I was doing would ultimately benefit both of us. Since he was unemployed, I asked him to take up a computer training course so that he could get a job. This way, I bought some more time to complete my training,” says Sanam.

Thanks to her determination, Sanam completed her training with diligence and obtained a permanent licence. A married woman now, she works as a driver for a school-teacher.