A Story of Determination
“Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Be strong and choose to be positive, always bring the best in you.”
Sabiha Naaz
Trained at TMF SMART Centre (Aarohan Foundation), Bhubaneswar
Amid the pandemic, personal loss and financial instability, Sabiha, a young woman from the Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, appeared for a job interview at Youth Council for Development Alternatives (YCDA), an NGO, and got her first job in August 2020.
Little did Sabiha know what life had in store for her. She was born in a family where girls hardly got higher education, but she was always determined to support her family. Her father was a small business owner, while her mother was a homemaker. One day, Sabiha learned about the ITES-BPO course at the Tech Mahindra SMART Centre (Aarohan Foundation) in Bhubaneswar. Soon after a quick enquiry about the training and the program, she enrolled herself into the course in the month of April 2020.
Soon, lockdown was implemented across the nation, and Sabiha started losing all her hopes to support her family and worried about the future. However, as soon as the Centre started the online courses, she saw a ray of hope and attended the classes regularly. During the pandemic, her father suffered from Aplastic Anemia and was hospitalised, which made it difficult for her to attend the online classes. Yet, she managed to attend the classes from the hospital and also follow up with her batch mates if she missed any class, and simultaneously took good care of her father.
Unfortunately, her father passed away, which made it more difficult for her to continue with her training.
Sabiha expresses gratitude to her classmates for continuously supporting her through her worst period, and her trainers for all the extra hours spent to complete her training and provide moral support.
Today, Sabiha is an independent woman who is shouldering the responsibilities of her family. She loves her job as it is dedicated to supporting children, especially orphans and juveniles.