Telling the stories of the world's poorest girls
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The international children's charity Plan has enlisted authors Joanne Harris, Kathy Lette, Deborah Moggach, Marie Philips, Tim Butcher, Xiaolu Guo and Irvine Welsh to tell the stories of some of the world's poorest girls. The anthology, Because I am a Girl, the proceeds of which will go towards the charity's campaign, is part of Plan's campaign to ensure a good education for girls whose lives are affected by poverty and discrimination, and sees the authors speaking to disadvantaged girls from Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Togo, Brazil, Ghana, Uganda and the Dominican Republic about their lives, struggles and hopes. See pictures from the authors' trips along with extracts from the stories
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Road Song by Joanne Harris, Togo'My tale begins right here, outside the town of Sokodé. A large and busy settlement five hours' drive north of Lomé ringed with smaller villages like handmaids to the greater town. All depend on the road for their existence'Photograph: Joanne Harris/Nicolas Robert/Plan
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Another picture of Joanne Harris in TogoPhotograph: Joanne Harris/Nicolas Robert/Plan
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Ovarian Roulette by Kathy Lette, Brazil'In every dilapidated shack, I found young women who had become little more than life support to their ovaries – reduced, by lack of contraception and lack of access to abortion, into breeding cows. Forced to drop out of school and unable to work, it's as though society has handed them an eviction notice' Photograph: Michael Brian O'Doherty/Plan
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Another picture of Kathy Lette with some of the childen she met in BrazilPhotograph: Michael Brian O'Doherty/Plan
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Ballad of a Cambodian Man by Xiaolu Guo, Cambodia'The old policeman stepped into the muddy rainwater streaming through the market. A smell of rotted durian fruit hung thickly in the air. He walked fast, with a sad joy, constantly colliding with busy shoppers, driven on by his eagerness to get home. He had to fix his rotten motorbike as soon as possible, and then drive to a village fifteen miles away before sunset' Photograph: Chantara Soleil Mom/Sharon GouldS/Plan
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Another picture of some of the children Xiaolu Guo met in CambodiaPhotograph: Chantara Soleil Mom/Sharon GouldS/Plan
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The Woman Who Carried a Shop On Her Head by Deborah Moggach, Ghana'Ernestine was a tall, sinewy woman who walked miles each day carrying a beauty parlour on her head. This was a heavy wooden box, open at the front, packed with all the products a female might need to make herself desirable - face creams, hair accessories, soap, make-up, skin lighteners, conditioners, razors, hair removal foam, kirby grips and ornaments, perfumes and body lotions' Photograph: Plan
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Another view of Deborah Moggach in GhanaPhotograph: Plan
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Remittances by Irvine Welsh, Dominican Republic'On this transatlantic flight from Spain, bile is keening in my guts as I await my arrival in my homeland with a mix of excitement and dread. I am returning to the Dominican Republic after an absence of almost eight years, bearing distressing news of my younger sister, Renata, with whom I had a chance and disturbing encounter in Madrid' Photograph: Plan
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Bendu's Dream by Tim Butcher, Liberia'The dream was so vivid it woke Bendu and for a few seconds, as she lay blinking on her grass mattress getting her bearings, strands of recall flickered at the edge of her mind. There are some dreams, she told herself, that are meant to be remembered and this was one of them' Photograph: Tim Butcher
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Another picture of Tim Butcher with some of the childrern he met in LiberiaPhotograph: Tim Butcher
