Hoping to break the cycle

The girls and their math teacher, Shruti Priya, observe the Durga Puja festival that honors the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo -- hence the victory of good over evil.

Neelam and Urmila, both 14, pass the time playing during the high holiday season. The girls overcome caste stigma by forming friendships that take away the boundaries of caste and class.

The school girls play a game of kabaddi during recess.

The girls get three meals a day at the boarding school.

The girls work on homework.

The girls are still vulnerable to sex traffickers who routinely prowl the outside of the school hoping to abduct them into a life of prostitution. Here two young school girls listen to men call out to them from the field, trying to get their attention.

All the girls supported by Apne Aap are given photo identification to show that they are members of the group. This serves as protection when a trafficker accosts her, because he immediately knows that Apne Aap staff will follow up if she goes missing.

The young girls develop strong bonds at the boarding school and have the opportunity to act carefree, a luxury most do not have in their communities.

The girls pray together inside their communal bedroom that sleeps 20 during the five holy days of Durga Puja.

A view from the roof of the boarding school, situated not from from the Indo-Nepal border town of Bihar, one of the poorest districts in India.

Twelve-year-old Karishma enjoys a shy moment laughing with her friends inside the boarding school, where she lives with some other 100 girls.   (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times )

Rukhsar Khatun has her hair combed by a schoolmate. Rukhsar attends the school with her sister Shahana, not pictured. Their father had forced his two other daughters into prostitution, and he pulled Rukhsar and Shahana out of the school in 2011, beating their mother when she protested. Their mother ran away with the girls so she could return them to the school and now lives in a secret location.

The girls get three meals a day at the border school, which is also supported by the local government. They are served food in shifts so as to accommodate all the children fairly.

Sabhyata, 12, sleeps after reading a book.

Thousands of young girls in India and Nepal are sold for sex and imprisoned in urban brothels in Kolkata, New Delhi and Bombay. The girls thrive when given an education.