Lily is seven years old. She lives on the side of a mountain in East Timor with her grandmother. Her only toy is a water bottle she uses to water the vegetables in the garden. The vegetables are important; when they don’t grow, she and her grandmother have almost nothing to eat.

Lily doesn’t go to school. Her grandmother wishes she could send her, but she can’t afford to pay for the books and materials required. “I’d like Lily to go to school but I can’t do anything about it,” she says.

“I want to be smart and go to school,” Lily says.

Instead, Lily stays home and does her chores, washing the dishes and collecting water. She wants to go to the city someday and see the shops.

In the dry season Lily and her grandmother grow vegetables and sell mustard leaves, but in the rainy season they don’t grow enough vegetables to sell, so they have no money.

Lily wishes she could buy a dress. “My friends don’t always play with me because my clothes aren’t the same,” she says. “Their clothes are better, I feel embarrassed.”

They don’t have enough food at the moment; just some cassava, which is like sweet potato. Lily’s grandma measures out a small amount of cassava every day to make sure there is enough to last them. Lily gets sick a lot because she is malnourished.

Do something real to help kids like Lily. Do the 40 Hour Famine.