My favorite part about New Horizons House is that I get to have so many friends. I was an only child, so I spent a lot of time playing by myself when I was growing up and I always wished I had other girls around, especially after mother died. After that happened, father got a new wife and she had two children of her own. But father’s new family didn’t like me and they treated me really badly. So I was sent to stay with my grandparents.
I’ve heard sometimes grandparents are really nice and they bring their grandchildren lots of surprises and treat them extra special. Not my grandparents, though. Mine forced me to marry Mr. Prasad even though I begged them not to. I’m only 14 and he’s 28. I’m pretty good at math, so I know he’s double my age. He always wanted to do things to me that I didn’t want to do. It really hurt me when he wanted to do those things, and I was suffering.
I tried to reject him because of how much it hurt me, but when I did that he would beat me and just do what he wanted anyway. He also let his brother and other family members do those same things to me. I tried to tell my grandparents, but they couldn’t help me, so I knew it was up to me. I went to the rural development trust and asked them to please take me away from Mr. Prasad and his family.
They helped me get to New Horizons House where I am now, and I hope I can stay here for a long time. I was learning English in school before I got married, and science too. I love science. Here, at New Horizons House, I can continue my learning. Someday, I’m going to become a teacher so I can teach English and science to other girls.
