Mangala is a fourteen-year-old from a village in Karnataka who was married at the age of 9 years when she was studying in 3rd standard. Her family has 9 members, Mangala being the third eldest daughter out of seven. She was married off at a very young age like her elder sisters because the family lives in abject poverty as her parents are small farmers practising rain-fed agriculture. They are seasonal construction labour migrants to Udupi and Mangalore. After her marriage, her father decided to drop her out of school and planned to send her to daily wage work for earning. During this, she and her elder sisters were identified by IMAGE (Initiatives for Married Adolescent Girls Empowerment – Karnataka) Team, Bagalkot in the year 2018. The IMAGE staff frequently made visits to their home and convinced her parents to not stop their education assuring them about the finances. 

Now all three early married girls are continuing their studies and have also enrolled in vocational training. The staff also convinced the parents to not send their daughters to the husband’s home till they turn 18. IMAGE provides for their tuition fees, books, etc. Now Mangala is an active participant in all the meetings about Child Rights, awareness programs on Child Marriage and Gender-Based Violence. In February 2020, she participated in the district level quiz competition and the science exhibition at Bagalkot district. She also participated in the workshop on child marriage at Bangalore conducted by IMAGE. Her confidence, leadership qualities and determination to fight against child marriage resulted in her becomimg a Movement leader. She is now taking the responsibility to spread awareness against child marriage, child rights, child labour and education in her community. She is also stopping child marriages from taking place in her village. 

She adds, “I want to become a scientist and as a Movemnet Leader, I want to contribute my best towards building a society which is free from child marriage and child labour. I also aim to reduce the dropout rate of girls in my village.“