Girl Rising

Narrator:
I was 11 years old when my father arranged for me to be married.

Narrator:
I had heard of the thousands of girls so to men in those places.

Narrator:
I can't really talk about everything that happened to me here... but I will never forget.

Narrator:
We have come to this house... the house of her master... to say you must set her free.

Narrator:
There is no miracle here... just a girl with dreams.

Nattator:
Even if you send me away, I will come back every day... until I can stay.

Narrator:
I will read. I will study. I will learn. If you try to stop me, I will just try harder.

Narrator:
If you stop me, there will be other girls who will rise up and take my place.

Narrator:
I am change.

Narrator:
I am my own master now.

Narrator:
I feel as though... I have power.

Narrator:
Now there's nothing to stop me.

Narrator:
I feel I can do anything.

[first lines]

Narrator:
This is a simple story. And it did not begin here. This thing of beauty, a joy forever. Rising. This warm glow in darkness, like the harvest moon. A Khmer proverb whispers, "Celebrate when the moon is bright." But for years, she was a child of the dump.

Narrator:
When I wasn't minding the goats, I had to mind the children. The goats were nicer.

Narrator:
How could so much beauty and so much meanness be together in one world?

Narrator:
[evicted in the rain] A thousand rivers flowing with life. And us, adrift. No place in the soaking world for roots to take hold. Everyone was crying, even my drawings.

Narrator:
Girls are not the problem, they're the problem-solvers. You want to slow the spread of AIDS? Educate a girl. You want to grow the world economy? Educate a girl.