When Ihdina Anjum walked into DSF for the first time 9 years ago, a lanky teenage girl, barely audible and extremely hesitant to hold eye contact, her innate talent was far from visible. Our student under HeadStart since 8th standard, she was always drawn towards creative art. ‘When I was a child I used to love drawing and painting’ she recalls, and credits her mother with being her first teacher and inspiration to start embroidery and stitching, ‘My father used to work at a butcher shop but he would hardly give his income to the family, so my mother used to stitch dresses for us and also for others to earn a little money. I used to help her with her work’. Given the family conditions, her brother dropped out at 9th standard and started working in the local fish market to earn a living for the family. Her elder sister, also a student of DSF completed her graduation and took up employment as an Accounts assistant. But Ihdina ‘s heart lay elsewhere, ‘After completing pre-university I joined a one-year free training course in stitching and learnt many new techniques.

After she completed her graduation in Bachelor of Arts (BA) there was family pressure to take up employment in some office or school. “ I was not at all interested in academics or a conventional job, I just wanted to stitch and create new things. I used to visit DSF often and speak to my teachers. and they decided to create this platform for me’, she shares with a bright gleam in her eyes, “I was just like any other average child with regular aspirations, but through this programme I‘m able to dream big and I‘m so much more confident today’, she concludes with conviction. Ihdina is guided and handheld by various experts in her field, to give her exposure which would add value to her creativity.