Kaima taking a nap at midday.   RAJASTHAN, INDIA Kaima lives in Rajasthan in the Thar Desert ñ red sand on this planetís most ancient rocks. The ground seems to be the bottom of a dried-up sea ñ tiny rocks and cracks in the flattened sand ñ and silence. This particular geography demands a great deal of work from Kaima and her impoverished family. The women in Kaimaís family are illiterate. They have always been married off in infancy, Kaima included. But she is the first of countless generations before her who has learned both to read and write and to take some control over her life. Even though physically she appears younger than her 12 years because of her shrill voice and tiny body, she has certainly proven herself very sophisticated for her age. * * * * * Kaima presides over a meeting of more than fifty women organizing a rally, to be held in the city of Phalodi, to demand more water. They accuse a man on the government payroll of not distributing sufficient water, and his relatives defend him. Her voice is the one that rises above the clamour. A year ago this energy was primarily dedicated to household chores. Since then Kaima took an enlightening four-month intensive course at a residential camp. Kaima completed the fifth grade and studied science, health issues and technology. She understood that she had a right to equality. And she showed that she had a special talent for social work. Her transformation was rapid and difficult. Her maternal grandmother brought her back shortly after she had started school: Kaimaís husband, still a child like her, had only just completed third grade and her superior education would be a problem later when they lived together. Her father returned Kaima to school. Later, girls from a superior caste refused to let her have supper with them and chased her from the dormitories. But Kaima excelled ñ she was voted to speak at the schoolís final ceremony. In her village in Indiaís northwest there are no schools. There is a high rate of infant and maternal mortality, and a shortage of medicines and food. Many women have more children than they would have liked ñ sometimes more than their families can afford. And since they eat last, they eat less. Kaima is trying to escape this future. She wants to be a military pilot; on the way she is changing her family. * * * * * ìAre you not obliged to go and live with your husband during adolescence?î ìNo, not until you are eighteen. My mother says I ought to first study, work and be able to maintain myself.î Her mother: ìI will not send her to live with her husband before she finishes her studies, even though it may take five or six years more. My elder daughters and I were not able to study and it ruined our lives.î   Kaima reading the Koran. * * * * * The day starts in Kaimaís village. She washes her face and feet in the patio while she softly sings. Dozens of sparrows twitter in an acacia tree. She is the eldest of the daughters still living in the house and she faces a very busy morning. She has already brought the firewood and she helps to clean the whole house, get water, feed the goats and cook. Kaima then goes to read the Koran on her bed. On shelves near the wall there are some of her familyís possessions ñ aluminium cooking utensils and photos of her father, who works in the city. Donation receipts to a religious school sit on a small dish. Kaimaís voice ripples with a prayer. From the roof hang two paper planes ñ one red and the other green. Her mother made them to ìstrengthen her ambition.î Her daughter needs all the help she can get to overcome the powerful inertia of poverty and to gather the courage to take the risk. Kaima finishes her morning prayers and kisses the Koran before carefully placing it back in its cloth case.