Bijli

age 21, married at 10 in India

At 10, Bijli didn't know what marriage meant or even what a husband was. But there she was, married to a man she had never met before her wedding day.

Bijli was raised by her grandmother. She was told that her mother committed suicide by burning when she was just one month old, and her father, an alcoholic, did not play much of a role in Bijli's upbringing.

So even though he was still alive at the time of her marriage, it was Bijli's grandmother who picked her husband—a distant relative—and arranged for the ceremony. Her grandmother was afraid that she might die while Bijli was still young, leaving no one to look after her granddaughter. A marriage would secure Bijli's future, her grandmother decided.

When Bijli started menstruating at age 12, she was pulled from the 7th grade, and left her grandmother's home to move in with her husband and in-laws. She had her first child, a boy, at age 14. And for the first five or six years of her marriage, Bijli stayed at home, did household chores, and was not allowed to go to school.

But Bijli says she is fortunate, because her husband and in-laws have been very good to her. Once her son began school, they allowed Bijli to move with the boy back to her own village so that he could attend a better school than the one her husband's village provided. They also agreed to let Bijli continue her own education. She completed the 10th grade and has been teaching for the last three years.

"Of course I don't think early marriage was a good idea, but I had no say in that at such a young age," Bijli explains. "But I am lucky because my husband is supportive of this living arrangement and of schooling for both me and our son."

Bijli says she and her husband would like one more child.