PebHmong Discussion Forum
Relationship => Marriage & Family Life => Topic started by: theking on December 12, 2023, 02:09:02 PM
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...especially for girls:
Woman Escapes Parents' Arranged Marriage to Her Cousin — and Joins the Air Force: 'I Had to Leave' (Exclusive)
Inside the remarkable journey of Hamna Zafar, who chose to put her dreams first
(https://people.com/thmb/-CQiOqJ8Jl6carG4Qdia55_p4I8=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/hamna-zafar-us-air-force-102623-9-7ba3d8352c4a4ab6a6a3ece13102b935.jpg)
At 19, Hamna Zafar knew she would lose her family unless she agreed to an arranged marriage with her cousin in Pakistan. However, as she was unwilling to give up her American dream of building her own life, the dutiful daughter rebelled and opted to escape to a future that led to serving in the U.S. Air Force.
“I always thought about my parents. I always thought about my family. I always thought about my sisters,” Zafar, 23, tells PEOPLE. “But that night I thought about me.”
She knew that by taking that step, she would lose her extended family in Pakistan and that her parents would never forgive her — and deny her contact with her two beloved younger sisters.
It was a route that Zafar, who grew up in Maryland in an immigrant family, never thought she would have to take. An obedient child who made good grades, Zafar — who now spends her days protecting the base as an Air Force Security Defender — says she stayed close to home, cared for her sister with autism and planned on starting a career after college.