Maya is a girl who lives with her family in an impoverished village.

The family makes a subsistence living with a few animals and a garden plot.

By age 8, Maya is already helping her family by tending to the animals and working in the fields.

It is hard work. It is what girls growing up in her village are expected to do. But Maya knows there is another path.

Maya's brothers go to primary school, but Maya doesn't have that chance. Her community doesn't support girls going to school.

Thanks to Join My Village, Maya has the chance to go to school!

Girls haven't been to primary school very much. They are shy around boys and men.

Maya needs female teachers to tell her she deserves to learn...and who understand what it's like to be a girl.

And parents, fearing for their daughters' security, hesitate to send them to schools without female teachers.

Join My Village received enough likes to bring teachers and supplies to Maya's primary school!

Maya has finished primary school. She knows how to read and write and do math. She's made friends and feels good about herself.

At age 12, Maya is still a girl. But in the eyes of her family and culture, she is a woman, ready for marriage...and children...unless she is able to stay in school.

Going to secondary school means having choices. It means a chance to become something — maybe a nurse, teacher, police officer, or pilot.

But Maya knows that secondary school costs money—money her family doesn't have.

Enough likes means Maya received a scholarship to secondary school!

Maya is active in school and excited about sitting for her exams—the equivalent of graduating from high school—a rarity for girls in her corner of the world.

Being away at boarding school has changed Maya. She is confident and independent. It's time to return to her village and consider what she wants to do next.

First though, she will spend time mentoring the younger girls in her village and talk with their families to help them understand why educating their daughters is important.

Through Join My Village, Maya has been able to mentor all of her village's young girls!

Going to school has helped Maya in many ways. Beyond learning and developing her skills, it has given her the time to grow up before marrying and having children.

Maya feels fortunate that she can choose whom she will marry, and when she will start a family. Girls who don't stay in school aren't so lucky.

But she knows that many girls and women still die in childbirth or complications related to pregnancy.

Join My Village's efforts to improve prenatal care have succeeded! Maya has started a healthy family!

Armed with an education, Maya is able to provide a better life for her family. She has started a small clothing business in the village market.

Maya would like to expand her business, so she joins her village's women–owned Village Savings and Loan Association, or VSLA.

VSLAs allow women to save and lend money collectively, so they become a bank for each other.

VSLAs act as a bridge out of poverty for women in Maya's village. As women start businesses, they continue to mentor and inspire younger girls.

Thanks to Join My Village, and YOU, Maya gets her VSLA loan! Her family's standard of living improves each year!

Every day, Join My Village makes a difference in the lives of thousands of girls and women in Malawi and India.

Through education, Maya and girls like her are able to develop the skills they need to succeed. To be healthy. To prosper.

Creating new generations of educated girls, who will send their girls to school. And so on...