For over 200 years Vadia in Gujarat has been a town infamous for young girls’ prostitution. Because no one is willing to marry them, they end up in prostitution at the age of 12. So to break this pattern, mass wedding are being organized.

“I do not know what the boy was called but the party was fun”, says Gaya, 8, one of the girls who was engaged. Wearing make-up and dressed like adult women, Gaya and other little girls from the village next to Vadia are seated next to the boys. They have never met before and hardly dare looking at each other. The girls’ thin shawls hide their blush but the boys’ sullen faces can’t get unnoticed. A moment later they are engaged and, according to organizer VSSM, Vicharata Samuday Samar Than Manch, the vicious circle of young girls’ prostitution in Vadia is broken.

“It may seem strange but it is the only way we've found to save the village’s girls”, says Mittal Patel, the woman behind this idea.