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 She is 12 years old, and she lives with her family in a small village in India. “Ben” is not her surname, or even her middle name. It’s a word that’s added to all women’s and girls’ names in her area, to be polite.
Maya Ben has two brothers, Dhiraj, who’s 18, and Rashik, who’s 15. They live with their father, Bhagwanji, their mother, Ratan Ben and their grandmother Veji Ben. Bhagwanji and Dhiraj are carpenters. They have a workshop in nearby Anjar, where they make teak doors for houses in the city.
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Maya and her mother in their best dresses. Maya’s embroidered dress was one of the few things saved from the earthquake.
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Maya Ben is in Grade 3 (Year 4) at school. Her favourite subjects are Gujarati and Hindi, the two local languages. She loves learning and studies hard. She loves children too and often spends her free time looking after little ones for her neighbours. One day, she hopes to be a teacher.
A few months ago, life for Maya Ben and her family changed suddenly. Their house and everything in it was destroyed in a terrible earthquake. Many other things fell down too - Maya Ben’s school, the meeting place, the village water pipes and the homes of all the other people in the village. For days they had no shelter, no clean water, no food, and only the clothes they were wearing.
Soon people came, bringing food, blankets, tents and water. With their help, Maya Ben and her family are working to get their lives back to normal.
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 He’s 15 years old, and he’s Maya Ben’s brother. He is often out playing cricket or kabaddi with his friends.
He also likes to make miniature toys for his sister and friends. He can make anything out of a scrap of wood, some wire and a few buttons – a tiny table and chairs, a truck, even a digger that really works.
He’s looking forward to making bigger things when he’s a carpenter like his father Bhagwanji and older brother Dhiraj. Right now, Bhagwanji and Dhiraj are very busy helping other families in the village build new houses to replace the ones they lost in the quake.
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Rashik and Maya Ben’s family eating outside their temporary house.
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Rashik reached Grade 7 (Year 8) in school. Now he’s left to train for his career in carpentry, but he does go back to visit sometimes.
In fact, he was there with Maya Ben on the day of the earthquake. When the quake hit, he ran with her back to their home, only to find it had been destroyed. Bhagwanji and Dhiraj have built a small temporary home for the family, but they are all looking forward to when they can have a proper two-roomed house like they had before.
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Tara Ben with her family.
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She is 15 years old, and lives in another village, very close to Maya Ben and Rashik’s village. When the earthquake hit, Tara Ben was at school.
“I was very frightened,” she said. “I rushed outside and the school came down. I hurried home – lots of children were running with me.”
When Tara Ben got home, she found that their house had collapsed. At first they had nothing – no food, water, spare clothes, shelter or bedding. They couldn’t wash, and they were very cold, especially at night.
Finally after three days, people came with bread, water and biscuits, and later, more help came. Now the family live in a temporary shelter, which is hot during the day, but at least it keeps out most of the rain and wind.
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 He is 14 years old and he’s in Grade 8 (Year 9). He lives in the same village as Tara Ben. Navin has two sisters - Mittal, 8, who is in grade 3 (Year 4), and Kanku, 12, who is away at boarding school. Their father, Shyamjibhai, runs a transport business, while their mother, Laxmi Ben, works in the fields.
At school, Navin likes studying the Hindi language best. In his spare time, he likes playing with his friends, especially a type of tag called khokho.
Navin’s family used to have a comfortable two-roomed house. They even had their own toilet, just for their family. The earthquake destroyed everything – their house, their furniture, their cooking vessels, everything they owned. Sadly, they also lost their cousin, who was killed in the earthquake. They keep a photograph of him in their home as a memorial.
During the quake, most of the children in Navin’s school were outside for the Republic Day celebrations. Tragically, one class of 38 children who were still inside all died when the classroom collapsed. Navin doesn’t like to talk about his memories of that day.
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