ISLAMABAD: Stories were shared by women in their own voices at the newly-established WECREATE Centre on Thursday to celebrate International Women’s Day.

WECREATE is a Women’s Entrepreneurial Centre where women can access training, resources and co-working spaces to develop their entrepreneurial skills and achieve economic empowerment.

Speaking at the event, Munawara Sultan, from Nawabshah, Sindh, shared a painful story of her divorce and traditions of pardah in her Sindhi feudal family.

Her family’s traditions prevented her cousin from receiving treatment for cancer. Her cousin’s dying wish was for Munawara to develop a means of livelihood for women who are not allowed to leave the premises of their homes.

Today, Munawara is running a successful business selling products made by Sindhi women in their homes, reviving Sindh’s traditional arts.

Audience members were moved by her courage, which allowed her to crack jokes as she shared a story of personal loss and triumph. “Don’t tell your daughters that marriage is everything because if a marriage fails, they start believing it is the end of their life,” she said.

Parvin Khan, worked as the head of the Business Growth Centre, a joint venture of United Nations International Development Organisation and First Women Bank, under their Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme.

She shared stories of how women in rural areas became empowered through the initiative. “When women are economically empowered, social empowerment follows,” she said.

Mehreen Jabbar shared the story of how she was inspired to set up an activities centre for underprivileged children in Islamabad’s rural areas. This centre which was started from a house in Mehrabadi blossomed into the Out of School Children’s School (OSCS).

Farva Zaidi, the head of curriculum development at Dheere Bolo, a new start-up, shared a children’s book she had helped develop, which tell stories through song and colourful illustrations.

“The aim is to restore creativity, poetry and wit in teaching of Urdu,” she said.

“Belief in yourself goes a long way on the road to success,” said another speaker, digital artist Hina Mehboob, as she shared her work with the audience.

Along with other women’s stories, rich tribute was paid to social entrepreneur Shayan Afzal ‘Poppy’, founder of Kuch Khaas, community centre in Islamabad, who lost her battle with cancer last month.

Her youngest daughter, Noorie Abbas, talked about her mother’s larger than life personality, her strength and her legacy.— Shiza Malik

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

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