Mary's mother makes what little money she can by sweeping extra beans that fall from the trucks delivering them to the market, and she sells them. Her family lives in a ramshackle little one room house and they sleep on old polythene bags and used boxes. Mary has a younger brother and a younger sister. She and her family often beg on the streets in order to survive. In this culture, many of the impoverished families train their children at an early age to go out and beg for the family, since children typically receive more compassionate responses. She is dirty and looking very depressed most of the time. Her family cannot afford to send her to school. They live in the Katwe slums.  Unfortunately the money that Mary makes from begging, her mother takes and uses to buy alcohol, instead of for her children's education. Mary really wants to go to school but because of her family's situation, she is unable to go.