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 was just expecting my family to kind of get used to the culture in the United States,” she says. “Growing up, they never really mentioned arranged marriage.”
That all changed when the college freshman went to visit Pakistan for a family trip in 2019, only to discover she was there for her own engagement party.
“I was trying to swallow that pill,” Zafar says.
“I was trying to comprehend what was really happening to me.”