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Listen to girls from Niger, India and Guatemala talk about their hopes and dreams.

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Soueba
Niger

Soueba is 16 years old. She lives in Tibiri, Maradi, in the southern part of Niger. She is Muslim and speaks Hausa, a widely spoken African language. Soueba does not go to school. She says the happiest day of her life was the day her mother told her she wouldn't be married off.


Shobha
India

Shobha is 15 years old. She was married when she was five or six. Because her husband, with whom she will live when she is older, is illiterate, Shobha plans to teach him how to read so that he can be successful. She attends the Veerni School, which provides lodging and education for girls from rural villages that do not have schools.


Felipa
Guatemala

Felipa is 18 years old. She had a baby last year, but her parents are caring for it so she can get an education. Felipa attends the Fundacion Nueva Esperanza, a school for Mayan youth in the highlands north of Guatemala City. Fundacion Nueva Esperanza operates a school that gives Mayan girls and boys an affordable education taught in Spanish and Achi, a Mayan language. Although they live five hours away from the school, Felipa's parents want their daughter to get an education and have a better life.