The true face of girls' empowerment

Image: Mary's Meals

Jessica Faulkner recently travelled to India to witness the impact of the Mary's Meals school feeding programme.

Fatima opened the door to her family home with a warm smile. But there was no mistaking the speed with which she ushered us in. Here in Dasna, a slum area of Ghaziabad close to Delhi, foreign visitors are not a common sight. And this family has attracted enough attention from their neighbours already.

Fatima , 20, and her sister Soni, 18, are equally admired and reviled by their own community. A deeply conservative and grindingly poor part of town, Dasna is not used to seeing girls out of their homes, let alone pursuing an education and a career. And yet that is exactly what these two young women are doing. Fatima has recently graduated from university with a degree in English and history and is destined to become a teacher. Her sister has finished her secondary education and when I met her, was just about to take an exam to join the police academy.

The family is unique here. Most girls are married before they have a chance to finish school. Some never even start because it's not a priority. Fatima's mother faces daily challenges from the neighbours as to why her daughters are not married off - or at the very least - kept indoors until they are.

The young women explain that problems arise when they are outside the protection of their family home. They have both been harassed, simply for being outside.

When I ask how their journey started, I look to their mother. But Praveen, who makes a living by weaving, explains that she is not educated and wasn't able to set that example for her daughters. She tells me that she was married off when she was 15. "I didn't really understand that I was married and I was still going out to play in the street with my friends."

In fact, the beginnings of their story came from hunger. Praveen and her husband heard that there was an informal school in the area. Every day at the school, a hot, nutritious meal was provided by Mary's Meals. Short of money to feed her growing family, Praveen sent the girls to school. "We wouldn't have sent them then if there was no food. In those days, it was the main attraction. Without

Mary's Meals, these girls would not be who they are now."

Fatima is also open about their motivation for attending school: "The food was very important. At first, we only attended because of the food." The memories of the food served by Mary's Meals is so strong for the girls that they can still remember the weekly menu.

Fatima says, "But over time, we understood the difference that education could make. And we knew that we could go beyond this. We knew that education could be a gamechanger for our family. It dawned on me slowly that education could change my life."

Fatima and Soni developed a love of school which extended beyond their daily meals. Both girls managed to stay in education and are now on a path to a bright future. The simple provision of Mary's Meals in their school started their story - the rest has been written by the girls themselves.

Constantly in the background of this story is Praveen. Unable to read and write herself, she looks with pride on her daughters. It's clear that she and her husband have endured a lot to send the girls to school and to encourage them in their ambitions. When I ask her how she has faced down the challenges of her community, Praveen smiles. "The women and men who taunt her [Fatima] will eventually see her as a role model. I keep quiet, but the real proof will be when my girls stand up and are role models for others."

As we mark International Women's Day, I'll be thinking of Fatima and Soni. Not only do they remind us of the very real challenges and obstacles faced by many girls, they are also testament to the tenacity and determination of young women, if we only give them a chance to get started. Mary's Meals provided that chance for these girls. The rest is up to them.

Mary's Meals feeds more than 2.4 million children in school every day in 18 of the world's poorest countries. In India, more than 70,000 children eat Mary's Meals at school each day. It costs just £19.15 to feed a child with Mary's Meals for a year.

Read more about Mary's Meals: www.marysmeals.org.uk