Impoverished Girls' Sad Lot in Life

A poignant story in The Washington Post with an elegant set of pictures by Nikki Kahn on the the life of poverty led by girls in south Asia who never go to school or are forced to drop out. Girls like like Jyotsna Patadia, who had to leave school at age 10 to help her parents work in the salt pans while her brothers stayed in school.

'This Is the Destiny of Girls'

Across Much of South Asia, a Daughter's Life Is Circumscribed By Tradition and Poverty. But for Some, the Dreams Die Slower.

By Mary Jordan - Little Ran of Kutch, India. In the soft light of dawn, the cracked, dry seabed stretched endlessly in every difrection. Jyotsna Patadia was alone - she is often alone in her family's grass hut, a speck of life in the emltimess, cooking potatoes and onions over an open fire..