'I live with my mum and two brothers in a village called Thirunindavur in the state of Tamil Nadu in south east India.

Divya sets off for school

My dad is still alive but he’s often away so my mum has to work to pay for food and other stuff. She used to work in a factory making clothes but it was really hard work and she only earned £9.33 a month. Our whole family had to live on this!

Now she’s started her own business making incense sticks and we’re much better off. She got the money to set up the business by taking out a loan through a woman’s self-help group, called a sangam.

I am very proud that my mother belongs to the sangam. She is working to improve our community and the conditions in which we live. Other women often come to her for advice. I’d like to belong to one of these groups when I grow up. In the last year we have had water shortages in our village and it has been difficult. My mother and her sangam friends are talking to the local Panchayat (village council) about how they can make things better.  

Divya often helps her mother carry water from the public tap

At school, my favourite subject is science. I’d like to be a science teacher when I grow up. My best friend, Ayesha, is Muslim (I’m Hindu). She lives near the village water tap and we often walk to school together. But at the moment she’s observing the holy month of Ramadan and so she can’t eat or drink during the day. I don’t speak to her much during this time because she gets very thirsty if she talks too much. 

There are lots of Hindus and Muslims in our school and we all play together. It’s important for us to be an example to others in the community.’