“I am here! See me? I am here!”

Fatimeh Javidan, 12 (front), with mother and twin sister Zahra.

Fatimeh’s restless soul speaks relentlessly past those dark eyes, longing to experience, yearning for attention. If it could, it would leap out and slap you into attention.

“I am here! See me? I am here!”

She lives in Boomehen, a poor town 30 kilometers east of Tehran. The family gets by on 31,000 tomans ($34 USD) worth of charity funds per month, ever since the father died of lung cancer five years ago.

Fatimeh doesn’t give a hoot about improbability.

“I want to become an actress,” she says, sitting cross-legged on the floor, writhing with excitement as she says the words, as if she is struggling to speak a foreign language. One hand stabs the air; the other unknowingly seizes a leg and lets go.

Moments later, she is motionless, her eyes glued to my lens; her gaze almost—well, almost scaring me!

“Say you want to become a teacher, a doctor,” her mother urges.

Fatimeh motions her silent and continues: “I was in three school plays and I really liked being an actress. I watch a lot of movies too.”

Her twin sister, Zahra, carries the official line: “I want to be a teacher.”

Their mother adds: “Zahra always covers her eyes when watching something scary on TV. Fatimeh is never scared. She just keeps watching.”

Everyone else in the room is silent. Then one speaks, awe in his voice: “Look at her. You can just see the determination in this girl.”