2017 Graduate Testimonies
Be encouraged and inspired by these stories of hope. When you invest in Shining Light, this is what you are a part of! Thank you for your support and bringing hope for a brighter future to Pakistan!
Anila- WVTC Graduate (2013): I come from a very poor background and my father is a simple laborer who works on daily wages. I have five sisters and three brothers and finances were very difficult so my father couldn’t send us to school. I was just like a useless person sitting at home doing nothing and we even didn’t even have enough food on daily basis. My older sister and I decided that we should learn about stitching and sewing and then we could put the rest of our brothers and sisters through school.
So we did! I gained admission at WVTC in 2012 and graduated in 2013. This program has given me the courage to do something for my poor family, and I started to work with my own hands by sewing clothes, making bed sheets.
Now today we are not only raising money for ourselves, but we are also helping our father and all of our siblings. They are all going to good schools and we are able to pay their fees and other costs.
Today, by the grace of God, with the help of Shining Light, I work for LifeStitch manufacturing as well, and I am one of the senior trainers at the new Denyor WVTC. I even have a small training center at home and earn an income from both LifeStitch and my own centre.
Ashurbi- WVTC Graduate: I have six children; two girls and four boys and my husband is retired from the army. We came to know about the WVTC through a friend and I asked my husband to please send me so that I could get proper training in sewing. He promised he would help me and he brought us to Gilgit…over six hours away from my home district, Skardu. He brought the whole family to Gilgit and my husband is now a taxi driver and he enrolled me at the WVTC. Today I am the only one from my village who has ever graduated and I have received a sewing machine as well! I already have been stitching the clothes of my whole family and I am able to stitch for others in the community and earn a few thousand rupees! This is a huge support for my family. I am very thankful to Shining Light and my heart is to establish a center in my village which is one of the most desperate areas.
Shanda WVTC Graduate: I got married when I was 15 years old but after just three years, my husband divorced me. I had previously graduated from the 8th class, but after the divorce, I was so shocked and I was so helpless sitting at home doing nothing. I come from a family of two boys and five girls and my father is a retired police. He helped all of us with school or even in providing other needs. One of my friends who is a teacher at the WVTC had encouraged me to come to the school and learn about sewing and stitching. It was more than a miracle to get such an opportunity to be engaged with an activity after a huge trauma in my life. Today I am so thankful to the center for providing an amazing opportunity to get this training. I still want to spend one more year here at the center and once I have completed my two-year training, I want to have my own shop to start earning some money to help my parents. Maybe I will also find a good person to marry and if God gives me a family than I will support my family. I will not let them down. I would love for Shining Light to give us more training and I am very thankful to whoever they are who are investing in us. (photo and name changed)
