My name is Minoo and I am 10 years old and I live in a small village in Afghanistan.

I am going to tell you my story about how my life changed for the better.

There are around 1500 people in our village. Many are small children who will never have the opportunity to get an education. Many spend their days out on the fields doing field work or at home cleaning if you are a girl.

We were banned from school, having a job, leaving home without a male relative and getting involved with politics.

Life became very hard because if we did not do the right thing then we would get beaten, some of the girls I knew had even died. But for the boys they were praised. It is so unfair I never did anything and we get the punishment.

After mum got back from the shops to get medicine for my younger brother who was sick, Aasif came home (mum's husband) and saw that she had been out without him. He told me to go to the other room so I did. All I could hear was mum crying and her begging for mercy.

This is my

mud house.