In the early morning sunlight, Meesha dressed for school.

Her mother had been up wellbefore the sun rose, preparing breakfast for the men who worked the field and would not be
back until the sugarcane had been stacked for processing to the plant. It was backbreaking
work in the heat. Meeshas job involved taking care of her younger brothers and sisters
before she left for school, some of them were still in diapers. Her tummy ached from the little
food there was for supper the night before but she didnt complain. She knew that her
mother had done without so that everyone had at least something in their stomachs before
going to bed. She used to have an older sibling but he got deathly ill from an infection in his
foot that spread to his leg. Her father managed to get him medical care, but the infection
spread viciously and the medication was not near as aggressive as the bacteria that
eventually attacked his kidneys. Meesha now assumed the role of chief child care whenever
she was needed, which was routine and expected.
Nightly it seemed, shed been having the same dream. She dreamed of becoming a nurse or a
doctor. She dreamed of seeing herself finding new and better ways to treat people who
worked hard for a life that had little to offer them. She wanted to make a difference to her
village and to her people, to find a way to make pain go away and sickness become less
threatening. She wanted her mother and father to be proud of her. She wanted to save a
brother she would never see again and somehow protect the younger ones from falling to the
same fate. She wanted to be someone besides little Meesha with the big dreams. She
wanted an education.
Meesha understood, even at 10 years old, the impossibility of what she longed for. Still, her
heart held hope for opportunity to become a reality, for a chance to take control of life instead
of life control her. In the routine of her day, the endless chores and the one-room school she
knew she would not be a part of by the time she turned 14, she held on to her dream like a
teddy bear. It gave her comfort. It gave her hope for a better future. A hope not only for