To all those who will read this, thank you. I was born and raised in London by south East Asian parents, both of whom are strict abusers of their cultural practices and their religion, Islam. Being Muslim in the west with parents such as mine is greatly challenging, for a number of reasons. Marriage was a topic that was discussed from early teenagehood and then more seriously from 16-18. My father believes that a woman cannot live outside the home if she is not married. I am trying to set the scene to help you understand in some way what my life is like. I live in a very controlled environment with all of my choices dictated to me (mostly by my father). He has a firm hand, he expects you to do what he says and there are always consequences when you don’t. I have never been able to properly explore my individuality, opportunities or my own desires because I would be cut off from my family for doing so. I am not able to work in a normal job outside because of his strictness and I am currently waiting to be told who I will marry. I know this may sound extreme to those of you who aren’t familiar with such practices, but for those of you who are, you’ll know that this is a reality many women live with. I am incredibly exhausted with my life, with being alive and with feeling so hopeless. It is incredibly painful to not be allowed to exist as you are, to be abused and controlled and be expected to agree to be handed off to a man that I don’t know to be married.
I have been previously disowned for making choices my father didn’t agree with and in all honesty I never had the strength to survive without my family (my mother mainly). I have to make this horrific choice between my own life and having them in my life.
I am sharing some of my story here because I am desperately appealing to anyone who has the heart and ability to help me, I am trying to make as much money as I can from my laptop and phone whilst I am stuck in my bedroom so that I might have a fighting and realistic chance to leave this situation before I have to get married.
I don’t know what else I can do. If you are in any position to gift me even the smallest amount of money I would be incredibly grateful.
This is the link I created for my PayPal:
https://paypal.me/zarasheriff
Thank you for taking the time to read this.