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Candidate Stories

Candidate Stories

Salva Robab Chohan

Salva Robab Chohan belonged to a middle class family of Sialkot city. Her father is a driver. She is the elder one in the siblings. The other two sisters are younger than her and they are able to continue their studies just because of scholarships offered by the NTS. They knew that they belong to a self-made family so they faced lots of hardships and took keen interest in their studies to get scholarships on merit.

Life took a standstill for Salva’s family, when her sister went through a horrible accident which resulted in one of her leg being broken, because all the savings had been spent by her family for the operation of her sister.

Being a bright student always, Salva had full faith in her abilities. One day, she saw the advertisement by Fair and Lovely Foundation. She decided to apply for the scholarship program, and she holds full believe that she will be the recipient of the FAL scholarship. Finally, when she got the call from Unilever, she was extremely ecstatic and just dancing insanelybecause that was the time; her hard work had finally paid off. Salva’s journey proves that one can be the victim of hardships like others, but the same person can also be the survivor, and she survived just due to the power of her faith her dreams, because the power of her dreams was more than the power of her hardships.

Salva managed to secure admission in the prestigious institution of Lahore that is IBM UET and is pursuing a degree in MS Management.

Aiman Saleem

Aiman belonged to a small village of Mirpurkhas. They are four brother and sisters and she’s the elder one. Her father is running a small store in which he’s supporting her whole family. She never dreamt of studying further in her life as her financial conditions are very worst and also her paternal family was against her studies as they think that the education for girls is just a waste of money and time. But somehow by giving tuitions and stitching pillow covers she managed to do intermediate in very good marks. But afterwards her family asked her to leave her education because they were facing financial crisis.

She applied for Unilver scholarship and she got selected. According to her that was the best day of her life as she already gave up on her dreams but because of the scholarship she started dreaming again. No one in her entre family have ever go to university and she’s very proud that she is taking higher education. She’s in 3rd semester of BSC and her aim is to become a leacturerar and to be a core support of her family.

 

Farah Ajmal

Farah’s Father passed away when she was little. She moved in with her maternal grandparents at the age of 1. After the death of her father, her mother remarried and was not interested in raising her anymore. She has been living with her grandparents in Karachi since then. However, life took another toll on her when her grandfather passed away few years back. Any person in these circumstances would have been a lost soul. But for Farah, her grandmother’s support proved to be a cause of her unwavering strength and determination. She did not let the hardships to get in her way. Farah worked hard and passed her intermediate with flying colors. Apart from this, she took vocational training classes at Memon Foundation. Farah continued her streak of achievements by securing the FAL scholarship. According to her, the day she got the selection call from Unilever, was one of the happiest days of her life. She has completed her beautician training course titled ‘City & Guilds’ at Depilex and moved to Hyderabad .Now she’s working in a renown salon in Hyderabad and earning well. She’s very thankful to Unilever for their generous support.

Tehreem Fatima

Tehreem was brilliant student from the start but her father was employed in Pakistan steel Mill(PSM) and due to PSM financial crisis she was unable to pay her university fees.PSM financial crisis is self-explanatory everybody know what PSM employees are facing and

also her father is the patient of cancer and now just because of Unilever program she is aiming to complete her PHD in economics.

 

Umaima Sheikh:

Umaima belongs to a humble background where her father is the sole earner for a family of five. With the limited salary, Umaima’s father could not support her quality higher education. Umaima has always had a passion for art and creativity. She was fortunate enough to garner the support of her family, especially her mother who was always appreciative of her drawing skills and her grandfather who gave his unwavering moral and financial support.
Being an independent individual, Umaima decided to earn herself and started giving tuitions and teaching at a school part time. She opted for Bachelors in Economics as her undergraduate degree. After completing her bachelors, Umaima decided to pursue her passion for art and design. She got enrolled in a Fashion Designing diploma.
Having the dreams and aspirations to become a designer one day, she wanted to pursue a degree in Fashion. She came across the advertisement by FAL foundation and decided to apply for it. After going through the whole process, Umaima was finally selected for the scholarship. According to her,” it was a really emotional moment; I was happy and crying at the same time, thanking Allah for his countless blessings”.
Currently, Umaima is enrolled at AIFD and pursuing a Masters in Fashion Merchandising.

Noreela Atta

Noreela Atta belonged to a lower class family of a small town of PIndi Bhattian. Her father was a constable in Pakistan Army. After his retirement, he used to get a meager amount as pension. Moreover, because of not being well educated, he didn’t get a proper job. Life took a standstill for Noreela’s family, when her father went through a horrible accident which resulted in one of his leg being broken. As a result, her father was completely bed ridden for some period of time and could not do any work. Later on when his health recovered, he opened a small shop (kiryana store) to earn money. However, having to support five children, including three daughters and two younger sons who were of the school age and couldn’t work, proved to be a difficult task for Noreela’s father. As time passed, the expenses also grew.

Noreela’s siblings were all very hard working. Her elder sister managed to secure a scholarship for her studies. Being a bright student always, Noreela had full faith in her abilities. One day, she saw the advertisement by Fair and Lovely Foundation. She decided to apply for the scholarship program, but deep down she thought that there was no way she could be the recipient of the FAL scholarship. Finally, when she got the call from Unilever, she was extremely ecstatic and couldn’t believe that her hard work had finally paid off. Noreela’s journey proves that just like after every night comes a new day and after darkness comes light, one should never lose hope and always strive to achieve their goals.

Noreela managed to secure admission in the prestigious GC University Lahore and is pursuing a degree in Bs.Stats.

Anam Jamil

Anam Jamil’s life is a source of great inspiration. She was a family of six with four sisters. Her father passed away when she was little. Having to depend financially only on her father’s support, her mother took the tough ride and decided to give tuitions. Her paternal family was against this decision thinking about what people in their community would think. They stopped her mother and created difficulties for her. This prompted Anam’s family to live separately from their paternal family.

Anam completed her studies by securing scholarships through her college and university life due to her exceptional results. However, she didn’t have the finances to pursue her masters. She did part time jobs in the meanwhile. Her dream to pursue masters came true when she was selected for the FAL foundation scholarship. She took admission in the Mphil program at Ripah University, Islamabad.

Anam defeated all the odds by proving those wrong who thought that girls are nothing but a source of disgrace for their family.

Gulalai Alam-Islamabad

Gulalai belongs to a Pathan family from Peshawar. Her life journey started from setbacks only when at a mere age of six months, her parents got divorced. After the divorce of her parents, her mother remarried when she was only one year old. Her mother was uneducated and a psychiatric patient who suffered from personality disorder. Therefore, she did not have the means to support her. Gulalali’s father also married again.

Gulalai then moved in with her maternal Grandparents in Islamabad. After fourteen years of no contact and support, her father finally came to meet her at her grandparent’s house and forced her to come with him. However, Gulalai refused because she did not want to live with her step mom and siblings and adjust to an unknown environment.

Her grandparents supported her throughout her life. However, hardships did not end here. Gulalai’s biggest support, her grandmother died when she was in tenth grade and that was perhaps the most difficult period for Gulalai in her life. She moved on from this incident with even greater zeal and courage and completed her Fsc with exceptional results.

She then decided to apply for scholarships because her grandfather could not support her higher education. Although her Uncle offered to pay for her higher education, but Gulalai had this inner belief and determination in her that she wanted to do everything on her own and not take anyone’s support. Her Uncle then helped her in searching for the scholarship and supported her in this regard, from filling forms to bringing her for the interview. When she got a call from Unilever, she could not believe that she had been among the fortunate one chosen for this scholarship.

Her aim is to become a doctor and serve humanity through the field of cardiology.

Rabia Malik-Karachi

Rabia’s life journey was full of struggles and challenges. It was nothing short of an emotional roller coaster. Her father was unemployed and had psychological issues. As a result, she had no financial support from her father. However, it was her mother who proved to be her shining light, a role model and an inspiration in her life.

Her mother’s journey was not easy. She faced backlash from her in laws who used to abuse her and create hurdles for her in every possible way. However, she didn’t give up. Rabia’s mother devoted her life to serve her children. In order to support her children financially, she decided to start a stitching business so that her children education could be funded.

Seeing the financial problems throughout her life, Rabia had the passion to study and become successful in life one day. She has been among the top students throughout her studies. However, achieving the first position in her class was not an easy road for her. Her Grandparents were against her education because it was expensive and now even her mother was facing health issues (backbone pain). However her passion for education led her to start earning for herself. She started teaching and giving tuitions from morning till evening and then used to go for her coaching centre. Rabia used to study late night with a charging light so that she didn’t cause any disturbance to her family who used to sleep early. Her hard work led her to pass matriculation with flying colors.

One day, she saw the advertisement of Fair and Lovely, Khud Ko Challenge Karo and told her mother about the scholarship. Her mother was extremely supportive and asked her to apply for it. She did everything on her own from filling the form to sending it. Rabia’s mother was very relaxed after this. She had full faith in her daughter’s capabilities and was confident of the fact that she will get the scholarship. However, Rabia was always worried and doubted herself. Finally, on Eid, she got a call from Unilever informing her about her selection for the FAL foundation scholarship program. She couldn’t believe it at first but was extremely delighted.

Rabia is extremely thankful to FAL Foundation for supporting her at a time when she needed it the most. Due to the scholarship, she doesn’t have to give tuitions and instead can focus completely on her studies. Currently, she is doing Fsc from Shah Jee Collegiate.

Her aim in life which has now become her passion is to become a Chartered Accountant and she is ready to go through anything to achieve this aim. Furthermore, after completing her degree and becoming financially strong, her dream is to open an NGO for girls who have a dream to become something in life just like FAL foundation supports girls’ education.

 

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