This April, Khushi boards a plane for the first time, travelling from rural Bihar, India to Melbourne for Women Deliver 2026, the world’s largest gender equality conference. One of the first graduates of The Hunger Project’s Adolescent Girls’ Program, she grew up in a household where two meals a day were uncertain and early marriage loomed. She resisted and chose education instead. Her story is proof that when girls are supported at the right time, they become change-makers for others.
I am the first person, and the first girl, from my village to travel to another country. In our villages, girls rarely even get the chance to visit a nearby town. I feel proud and grateful for this opportunity…I want to see another world with open eyes.
For many adolescent girls in rural Bihar, life is shaped by poverty, restricted mobility, and deeply rooted gender norms. Decisions about education, marriage, health, and work are often made for them, not by them. Safe spaces where girls can gather, speak freely, learn about their rights, and imagine a different future are rare. Khushi’s life reflected this reality.
Born into a poor and marginalised family, Khushi grew up witnessing instability and hardship. Her father abandoned his responsibilities, leaving her mother to raise five children through daily wage labour. As the eldest daughter, she carried domestic burdens from a young age and dropped out of school after Year 8.
I was called Khushi, but there was no happiness in my life”, she recalls.
Creating safe spaces for girls
The turning point came in 2021, when The Hunger Project supported the formation of a Sukanya Club (Girls’ Clubs as part of THP’s Adolescent Girls Program) in Khushi’s village – a safe space where girls could speak openly, learn about their rights, education, health, and the harms of early marriage. For Khushi, it was an entry point to dignity, confidence, and choice. She learnt about:
- Girls’ rights and entitlements
- Education and life skills
- Harms of child and early marriage
- Gender equality and decision-making
- Health, including menstrual hygiene
From dropout to decision-maker
Within months, Khushi returned to school. When her family pressured her into marriage during Year 10, she resisted – drawing on knowledge from the Sukanya Club to explain how child marriage harms a girl’s future. Marriage proposals resurfaced repeatedly. Each time, she negotiated for time to study, work, and become financially independent.
I will be the first woman in my family to complete both school and college.
Building economic and educational independence
Khushi saved every scholarship and incentive she received, using them for school fees and books. After completing Year 12, she began teaching at a local private school – supporting her own education and contributing to her siblings’ schooling.
Today, Khushi is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree while preparing for competitive examinations. She continues to teach and has emerged as a youth leader and role model in her community.
Khushi now mentors adolescent girls, encourages them to delay marriage, and speaks openly about gender-based violence and discrimination – using the same safe-space approach that transformed her own life.
The Sukanya (Girls) Club gave me strength, courage, and direction to live a life with dignity…I refused the life of (back-breaking) bidi-making and chose a different future.