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Mahfuz's Story

Hi my name is Mahfuz and this is my story about my journey through the courses:

 

I did not have a very good education as a child, I was the only girl in the family and had six brothers, I was expected to help out in the home and did not go out in the evenings as my family was very protective.

 

When I was sixteen my mother would not let me carry on in school,  my brothers had told her about girls that ran away from home if they got a better education, this was to get away from their families, so I worked in a sewing factory from 16 years old, I also did piece work at home in the evening where I was paid 10 pence a garment.

I went to Pakistan to meet my husband and married him at 19, we have four children and I have spent the last twenty years at home looking after them, I always put their needs first.  When my youngest started school I felt that I had fulfilled my role as a wife and mother and now I could do something for myself.

 

I did an NVQ level 2 in childcare as I knew that I was good at working with children, I never thought I was good enough to get any qualifications, I was so proud when I actually managed it!

 

I then did a customer service training course, on this I learnt about how to speak to people, how to answer the phone and how to react to an aggressive person.  As I did all of the homework and went to every session I got a certificate for that and was really proud of myself.

 

I have also done my emergency first aid training, if I apply for jobs in schools I would be able to use this qualification to help them, I learnt a lot on this course.

 

I came to Foleshill Women’s Training to do a confidence course it was run by the Grow project, I then went on to do the STEPS confidence course, this has helped me realise that I have skills that I can put into practice so that I can get a good job really soon.

I met a lot of really nice people on the STEPS course, I noticed one of the women was not very strong but as the course went on we could all see the change in her, I had a brilliant time on that and learnt a lot.

 

When I first started going out to get training I was really scared and I always believed the negative things that people told me but everyone has been so nice, this has made me feel good.  Now I am sure that I want my independence.

 

I have applied for a job now, before I would not have had the confidence to do this, if I get the job as a dinner lady I hope that I can go on to be a teaching assistant, I already volunteer at the school where I listen to the children read, I also volunteer in the nursery.

 

All of my training has been very good for my family relationships, we have become much stronger and it has become more positive throughout my journey.

Going to new places and meeting new people has been an experience for me, a lot of the things that I have done, I have experienced for the first time, like going on the bus.  I have realised that I can do this all by myself, I have changed the way that I look at things and there is no stopping me now. I would never have managed without the support of the centre.