Four years after she finished her first year of school in al-Ksour, Amina Tamandat found herself in an unenviable situation. Her two older brothers were in collegè (middle school), and her mother had recently had her fourth child, a baby girl. Amina, unlike some of her classmates, did not have a large number of aunts and female cousins living nearby. Her brothers couldn't help, as they were studying hard and doing part-time work with her father.

Who, then, would help her mother tend the baby, make meals for other extended family members, and generally help around the house? It is an old and familiar story in al-Ksour – and, indeed, across the Third World. Amina had to quit her studies, even though her grades were well above average. She would soon become one of the majority of youth in al-Ksour who drop out of school.