“I used to wonder too. Why was I born into a life this miserable? Why could everyone else pay tuition, but I couldn’t? When the teacher came all the way to our house to collect the money, the whole village surrounded us to watch like it was a show. Zaina, do you know what I was thinking then? I thought, forget it. I won’t study anymore.”

“When I said that to my mom, she slapped me and told me even if she had to sell her blood, she’d still send me to school. She cried ...