As a middle school student in India, Sudha Varghese was paging through a magazine when she saw a photo that changed her life. It was a picture of a ramshackle hut on a roadside in Bihar State. This was where some of India’s poorest families live, a caption explained.读中学时，偶然在杂志上看到的一张照片，改变了苏达·瓦格西的一生。照片上的画面是比哈尔邦路旁一间摇摇欲坠的破旧小屋，这里面住着印度一些极端贫穷的家庭。
The image stuck with her. Raised in a prosperous family in Kerala, India, Sudha couldn’t imagine living in such conditions. Something, she thought, needed to be done to help the poor. And she decided she would be the one to do it.这个画面印在她的脑海里挥之不去。在喀拉拉邦一个富裕家庭中长大的苏达无法想象人们如何生活在这样的环境里。她决定做些什么来帮助穷人。
“I decided all my efforts, all my resources, all my time, all my love, whatever I have, all that will go for the poor people who are needy,” she said.她说:“我决定把我所有的努力、所有的资源、所有的时间、所有的爱，以及我所拥有的一切，都奉献给那些需要帮助的穷人。”
Sudha’s family didn’t support her plans. But she didn’t give up. She joined a religious order, became a Catholic nun, and started doing charitable work. A few years later, disappointed that she wasn’t doing enough to help the poorest, Sudha struck out on her own. She moved to Bihar to live in a community like the one she saw in that photograph.苏达的家人不支持她的计划。但她没有放弃。她加入了一个宗教团体，成为一名天主教修女，并开始做慈善工作。几年后，苏达感到这样并不能竭尽全力来帮助最贫困的人，于是她决定采用自己的方式。她搬到了比哈尔邦，生活在最贫困家庭居住的社区里，那里的环境如同曾触动自己的照片所描绘的一样。
The people who lived there, she learned, were the Musahar. Musahar literally means “rat eaters.” In India’s earlier caste system, they were viewed as the “untouchables.” They could not own land and worked as poorly paid farm laborers. Most never had the opportunity to go to school. (You can read more about my visit in 2010 to a Musahar village in India here.)她了解到，社区里住的是穆萨哈尔人。穆萨哈尔的字面意思是“吃老鼠的人”。在印度的种姓制度中，他们被视为最低的族群——“不可接触者”，即贱民。他们不能拥有土地，只能当收入微薄的农场工人。大多数人都没有机会上学。（点击可阅读我在2010年访问印度穆萨哈尔村的相关内容。）
Sudha asked some Musahar villagers for a place to stay. They offered her a grain shed. And so began a lifetime of work to improve their lives.在一些穆萨哈尔村民的帮忙下，苏达找到了了一间谷仓作为住所。在这里，她开启了改善穆萨哈尔人生活的毕生事业。
Sudha focused her efforts on the Musahar women and girls. They suffered from discrimination, and often violence. Sudha worked with them so that they could stand up for their rights. She helped them get funding for hand pumps so they could have access to clean water. She also encouraged them to ask for higher wages.苏达将其努力的重点放在穆萨哈尔妇女和女孩身上。她们遭受着歧视和暴力。苏达着力捍卫她们的权利，帮助她们筹集资金来购买手动水泵，使她们能够获得干净的水；并鼓励她们争取涨薪。
But the biggest challenge Musahar women faced, Sudha says, was how they had come to see themselves. Entering a room, they would look at the ground and always take a back seat. They thought they were not worthy of respect, she said.但穆萨哈尔妇女面临的最大挑战是如何看待自己。进房间时，她们通常会看着地面，并总是坐在后排。她们认为自己不配得到尊重。
“Everyone would tell them, ‘You are last. You are a nobody.’ So, they internalized this,” she said."每个人都会告诉她们，'你天生下贱。你一文不值'。以至于，她们内心深处已经默认了这一说法。"苏达说。
Changing mindsets is never easy. And while she could work with the adult women, it was even more important to work with girls, she decided. They needed an education in a school that would help them redefine their self-image by believing in themselves and their potential for greatness.改变根深蒂固的观念从来都不是件容易的事。虽然苏达可以从成年妇女着手，但她认为与女孩们并肩努力更为重要。女孩们需要学校教育，这可以帮助她们通过相信自己和相信拥有成就一番事业的潜力来重新定义自我形象。
No school like that existed, so Sudha decided to open one herself. She named it Prerna, which means “inspiration” in Hindi.但当时并不存在这样的学校，所以苏达决定自己来开办一所。她将校名取作普尔纳，在印地语中意为“灵感”。
Prerna school offers reading, writing, math, history, and science. But Sudha wanted her students to learn how to stand up for themselves and fight back against sexual violence. So, she added karate to the curriculum. After growing up in a community where they were told they should accept abuse, the girls proved to be talented martial artists. Some have even competed in the world karate championships in Japan.普尔纳学校提供阅读、写作、数学、历史和科学课程。但苏达希望她的学生学会如何捍卫自己，反抗性暴力。因此，她在课程中加入了空手道。虽然成长在一个对虐待逆来顺受的环境里，这些女孩却拥有极高的武术天赋。有些人甚至参加了在日本举行的世界空手道锦标赛。
Sudha also teaches them yoga, drawing, painting, and singing. Her goal is to create well-rounded young women ready to pursue their dreams. More than 5,000 girls have graduated from her program.苏达还教她们瑜伽、素描、绘画和唱歌。她的目标是培养全面发展的年轻女性，时刻准备好去追求自己的梦想。已有超过5000名女孩从她的学校毕业。
During COVID-19, her school, like all schools in India, was forced to close for many months. Sudha and the other teacher tried to stay in touch as best they could through online classes, although many girls didn’t have access to mobile phones. They are in the process of restarting in-person learning this year.在新冠疫情期间，她的学校和印度所有的学校一样，被迫关闭了好几个月。尽管许多女孩没有手机，苏达和另一位老师仍试图通过在线课程尽可能地与学生保持联系。今年，他们准备重新开始面对面教学。
Sudha also runs Nari Gunjan (“woman’s voice”), a nonprofit organization that provides education, literacy, vocational training, healthcare, and life skills for these women and girls in Bihar.苏达还经营着Nari Gunjan（“女性之声”），这是一个为比哈尔邦的穆萨哈尔妇女和女孩提供教育、扫盲、职业培训、医疗保健和生活技能的非营利组织。
There is still much more work to be done to improve the lives of this community. Many families still live in poverty and are marginalized. But thanks to Sudha’s school and many efforts being made by the Bihar Government, Musahar girls are now pursuing their dreams of studying to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, and leaders in their community.可以肯定的是，要改善穆萨哈尔人的生活，还有大量工作需要做。许多家庭仍然生活贫困并面临着歧视。但通过苏达的学校和比哈尔邦政府的努力，穆萨哈尔女孩们现在正在追逐她们的梦想——成为医生、工程师、律师和社区领导者。
If a photographer came to Bihar today, a photo of a hut by the side of the road, like the one Sudha saw in a magazine decades ago, wouldn’t capture the story of the Musahar. What would, is a portrait of the young graduates of Sudha’s school. It would show them holding their heads high, looking straight into the camera’s lens, and inviting anyone who ever doubted themselves to believe in their own potential.今天，如果有摄影师来到比哈尔邦，拍一张苏达几十年前在杂志上看到的路边小屋的照片，将不会反映出穆萨哈尔的现状。真正应该拍摄的是苏达学校年轻的毕业生们。她们会昂首挺胸，直视镜头，让任何曾经怀疑过她们的人相信她们的潜力。