Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan: Meet Nabila

Nabila, a Pakistani woman, is making great strides as a professional now, but that wasn’t always the case. At 16-years-old, she was married. Within a year of marriage, she became a widow with a baby boy to care for. Her husband had fallen ill and was on his deathbed for 16 days. While she waited at his bedside, his family grew suspicious. They eventually put her and her young son out, believing that it was Nabila who caused her husband’s illness  and ultimately death.

She had nowhere to go but back to stay with her father. Although he worked hard as a driver, his salary still wasn’t enough to support all of them. But soon Nabila’s son became connected with Islamic Relief USA, becoming a sponsored orphan. This extra support opening the door for Nabila to begin her own educational journey.

The support opened a new chapter in both of their lives. Nabila had always been studious, and could now use the extra funds to begin her studies again, as part of a long-term goal of becoming self-sufficient. Her son even went to school too.

But she didn’t stop there. Nabila enrolled in college and university, and went on to graduate with honors. During all of her responsibilities, she even found time to volunteer for Islamic Relief for four years.

Islamic Relief USA is proud to have women like Nabila be a part of women’s empowerment projects that we invest in, in Pakistan and across dozens of countries worldwide. We deeply believe in the generational and multi-facets impacts of our programs. Women like Nabila are everywhere: fully able and ready to develop themselves into better professionals and more capable caretakers of community, and just looking for a bit of support. When donors support orphans, the impact stretches far beyond food. Rather, a sponsorship has the power to change the dynamic of entire families. 

To view more life-changing programs, read our latest Asia donor report.