My name is Saeed Ghazali* and I am from Village Danna, UC Balakot, District Mansehra. I am from a respectable and educated family. I did matriculations but I was not interested in studies so I started working as a bus driver. In 1980 I lost my left leg in an accident and my life changed. I ran away from home and went to live with my friend in Gujranwala. He encouraged me to learn tailoring. I started working in a factory in Lahore and became an expert due to my dedication.

My family in Village Danna thought I had passed away as I was not in touch with anyone. One day my cousin saw me in Lahore and informed my family. My father came to Lahore and brought me back to the village. My relatives’ behavior and attitudes changed towards me and they did not respect me. I shifted to a neighboring village and got married and started a family. I have eight children and one of them is disabled. I continued to work as a tailor to earn a living for my family. The day the earthquake came, everything changed. I lost my house, my shop and my equipment/machines. I started working at someone else’ tailoring shop but it was difficult to make ends meet.

The community organization in my village introduced me to SRSP staff and I received cash grant for establishing micro enterprise. I purchased sewing machine, peco machine, computer designing machine and kaaj machine and started my own tailoring shop. My living standard improved and now my relatives respect me and call me master sahib instead of Altaf. They also invite me to the community meetings and involve me in decision making.

I would like to call my story, ‘Search for Destination’ as throughout my life I had been searching for my destination and now, with the help of your organization, I feel happy with my life.

*Name changed to protect the person's identity.