“Education will help me escape this daily struggle to get by,” Seetha says. But a year ago the financial condition of the family made it seem impossible. “My parents and siblings all had to work to earn money. I stayed at home to cook, fetch water, graze the cattle etc. while all other children went to to school.”“I always liked school and had many friends. I knew that study would improve the standard of life for me and my family. I wanted to earn enough money to sustain ourselves. I did not want to be like my mother!” Under EGG’s guidance she began to work to save money to pay her way through school. “Alongwith with the housework, I began to cut wood and sell it in the market until I had enough savings to support myself,” she recounts. Seetha is now happily in school, dedicated to her studies and doing well.

“Everything changed when I joined the Bal Sabha” Renuka says. “Now I have better self esteem, I have greater respect for others and I am motivated to be a better and more active citizen”. Renuka’s new confidence is benefiting her entire school. “Now I have the confidence to make myself heard at school and at home. I teach the life skills games to the other students who are not in the Bal Sabha so they can share what I have learned. I’ve made so many new friends in this way!” “The problem for girls in our village is that they get kept home to do domestic work and do not come to school. My goal is t re-enrol all of the girls who have dropped out in my village. I believe a good leader should be able to inspire others to participate and be active. A good leader should give everyone a voice.”

By the time she was 13, her parents had planned to get her married. “Without education, I knew my life would be just like my mother’s,” she says. With EGG’s support, Dimple can now pursue the bigger dreams she has for her future. “There is a teacher at my school and I want to be a teacher like her when I am older. I did not like staying at home asI had to do all household tasks. I always thought about school and how I could learn a lot there.” “When a community worker from EGG came to talk to my parents, I was finally able to tell them that I wanted to return to school. Since EGG talked to my parents, they are convinced that a girl should be educated. I am happy to be back in school”. Dimple still faces several challenges that her brothers do not yet she is determined to continue her education, despite the barriers she faces.