With the help of World Vision Gift Catalogue shoppers and the support of her parents, Pinky Banalal of Rajasthan, India, can follow her dream of becoming a teacher instead of a child bride. Photo Credit: Reena Samuel/World Vision.

NAYAGAON, Rajasthan, India - Pinky Banalal, 9, knows exactly what she wants to be when she grows up.

"I want to become a teacher," she says.

For a girl from a poor Rajasthani family, that's a radical statement. Here, what a girl longs to be and what she accepts she'll become are usually two very different things.

Rajasthan is home to the world's highest number of child brides. While Indian law states that they must be 18 before they can wed, 60 per cent of girls in this densely populated region are forced into arranged marriages while still underage.

They start having children as soon as biologically possible. Data from India's 2001 census revealed that 300,000 girls under 15 gave birth in that year alone.

To have children while barely pubescent poses extreme risks, physical as well as psychological, for both mother and child.

India has the world's worst maternal mortality rate. An estimated 300 Indian mothers die during or shortly after childbirth every day. Many are undernourished girls - some as young as Pinky - giving birth before their bodies have fully developed.

Yet in spite of the law and the dangers inherent in children having children, cultural pressures and the need to offload a financial burden often prove too powerful a tandem to resist for Rajasthani parents.

Santra Devi, Pinky's mother, understands the nature of this transaction all too well. She was a child bride herself.

Forced to forfeit any opportunity of an education, the young mother now works as a labourer at construction sites while raising Pinky and her two younger siblings. Their father works as a mason in the nearest big city, Jaipur, and only gets to come home once a month.

After sacrificing so much, so soon, Santra envisions a different future for her eldest child. "I want her to become a doctor or a good teacher," she says.

And thanks to the generosity of Canadians who purchased gifts from World Vision's Gift Catalogue, she can fully support Pinky in her goals.

While primary education in India is free, families must pay for all school supplies - an expense that's far beyond the means of a struggling household like Santra's.

But with the notebooks, school bag and water bottle that a Gift Catalogue shopper bought for Pinky, along with economic assistance from World Vision, she can go to school and pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.

Since the Gift Catalogue shoppers did their part, Pinky's father is determined to do his.

Defying tradition, he's already turned down an offer for his daughter's hand in marriage. "One proposal came for Pinky, but I want her to study well," he said. "I will do all within my capacity and try my best to make her stay at school."

For more information on how you can provide classroom supplies ($100), go to www.worldvision.ca .

-30-