Meet Mary: Children Lead the Way Programme

“Mary spent the first 11 years of her life working with rocks. Today, at 13, she wants to be an astronaut!” Children like Mary are the most vulnerable population in the quarries in Kenya, where they are exposed to abuse and sexual exploitation, and often receive little or no pay.

But thanks to Save the Children’s Children Lead the Way programme, she is in school: “I learned that it’s my right to go to school,” she says.”When I grow up I want to be an astronaut. I’ve always wanted to explore the moon.” Mary still contributes to her household, only now she does so out of harm’s way, selling baked bread, and fruits and vegetables that grow in her family’s small garden.

Save the Children’s Children Lead the Way program — which operates in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Nicaragua and Peru — focuses on working children, removing them from the most harmful forms of work