My name is Yasmine, and I live in Rani Garden slum in East Delhi. I stopped studying while in class 10 as I had typhoid and I didn’t reappear for my exams afterwards. My mum works as a casual domestic help and I have four sisters and one brother, who drinks heavily. My father – also an alcoholic – used to beat me up really badly. As I grew older I started hating him for what he was doing to me, he used to beat me up so violently…

After leaving school, I started working in a factory, doing 14 hours shifts. I worked there for 9 years. I also tried tailoring and beautician work but these jobs did not interest me much, and I kept leaving job after job. My older sister had a grudge against me for this…she used to say I wasn’t good for anything.

I have always been attached to my mum, who used to say that if my brother was not an alcoholic, he could earn well and support the family as a driver. So when Azad Foundation came to our community and I learnt that they enable girls to become drivers, I thought maybe I could fulfill my mother’s dreams and signed up.

I have now completed Women on Wheels training, got my permanent license and I am preparing for my first job as a professional driver. Since starting the course, I have changed in so many ways. I used to be very quiet and dress demurely so no one would notice me. Now I am interacting with all kinds of people and wearing nice clothes. My father is in a really bad state and has to be hospitalized frequently. But now he started being unusually kind towards me…recently he told me to take some medicine as I was coughing. I keep thinking – he used to beat me so much, what has happened now? Is this the same man?

Once I start earning, I want my mum to stop working. I will take care of her, and also of my older sister who has been working in Ahmedabad for the last seven years, away from her seven years old son.

I was able to build my confidence and gain professional skills to become a driver thanks to generous support of people who believe in the work of Azad. So I would like to say THANK YOU to all those supporters for helping me and many other women in India to transform their lives. I will stay forever grateful for your support.

Please enable more resource-poor women to transform their lives

Every day, Azad team is meeting so many women who need a helping hand to enable them to escape poverty and violence. These women struggle to provide for their families, they face physical abuse, and are unable to make own choices about their lives. We need your support again to enable many more women to find inner strength and change their lives for better.

Please donate today to enable more resource-poor women become courageous professional drivers, empowered to escape violence and stand on their own.

Your donation will help equip more women with awareness on their rights and skills like self-defense and communication, alongside driving skills so they can become self-sustaining professional drivers and transform their lives like me.

Whatever amount you can give will help transform the lives of some of the most marginalized women in the world. Even as little as £10 can make a big difference. Plus, every donation you make this month will go a long way, as it will be doubled by Azad’s partner Global Giving UK!