Seeto?s Story

Twelve-year-old Seeto, lives in a small village in Rajasthan, India. She lives with her parents and her younger brother in a small, one room hut. Every single morning at dawn, she begins her daily chores.  Her first task for the day is to milk their two family cows and three goats. It takes her almost an hour to milk them.  She takes the steel buckets full of foaming fresh milk to the kitchen where her mother boils half the milk and churns the other half to make butter.  They provide milk to the neighboring village. At the same time, her brother gets busy bringing fodder and fresh water for the animals. After that, both of them get ready for school.  They each take a cold, bucket bath in an open space in the courtyard, with privacy afforded only by a 6-foot wall on one side.  A quick breakfast of last night?s left over roti (hand made wheat tortilla) with butter and milk and they are ready for school.

School starts at 7:30 am. Everyone gathers for a quick assembly to say a prayer and listen to the announcements from the headmaster before they head to their classes.  At noon, the classes break for lunch. The children bring their own food for lunch as none of the schools in their region have any cafeteria facilities.  Lunch usually consists of two rotis and some vegetable. Meat is a luxury that only a few families get  to eat, perhaps once a month, if they are lucky.  Some children have a plain roti with salt or onions.

Seeto is fortunate that her school encourages sports for girls. She participates in Kabaddi, a physical contact sport of strength between two teams.

After school, Seeto and her brother go home and immediately get started with their farm chores. Depending on the season, they could be required to work in the fields to harvest the crop or tend to the seeding.  They return in the evening, with the adults, having put in the same amount of work as an adult.  Seeto?s brother helps his mother collect firewood for cooking dinner while Seeto helps with making dinner.  Before they sit down for dinner, Seeto and her brother have to tend to the cows and goats again.  They clean the pens, carefully collecting, and storing the cow dung for use later as fuel.

No one reminds the children to do their homework but Seeto and her brother have good study habits taught by the school and they sit down every day to do their homework. Since receiving the MightyLight they have been even more motivated with their studies as they are captivated by the light and just enjoy reading in its light.  Neither of their parents have any education, so Seeto and her brother are seldom prompted to study and have no help with homework.  There are no distractions such as TVs or electronics in their home. Seeto and her brother are ambitious. Seeto hopes to become a doctor one day while her brother would like to study computer science.

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