For 3 hours a day, 10 year old Arifa collects reusable garbage. She does it because she’s told to, and not because she’s aware that it’s sold to provide for her family of three older sisters and a one-year-old brother. She’s a girl, and hence, doesn’t need to be involved in the economics of the household. She just needs to know how to run it: she’s already been trained to cook, clean and care for her younger siblings while her parents are working.
Arifa is a student at the Madanpur Khadar center. Ask her what she want to becomes, and she thinks hard for a while, police officer she says, before quickly changing her answer to doctor. Girls in her community are married off at the age of 15, giving her barely 5 years more to educate herself as much as she can, before she is given off to a relative or someone who asks for affordable dowry.
She stays hopeful though, of a better future and of becoming something in life. The circumstances make that doubtful, but PHIA is doing all it can to help her realize her dreams.
