At the age of twelve she was married off only to give birth to six very beautiful children over the course of thirteen years she never saw her youth for she was a mother during that time. This story is about a woman who never had the chance to be a girl, she never had the chance to be a teenager and full around, she never had the chance to go to school and be educated this she was illiterate. At the age of twelve she was married off to a polygamist man who already had 5 wives and was old enough to be her father or even grandfather. Because of the high bride price that had been paid for her she could never go back home because she had been bought by the old man and was now his possession. Her own father who was also a polygamist had sold her just like how her own mother had been sold.
This culture still goes on today even in Religious people. In Africa especially in Zimbabwe members of the indigenous apostolic church reportedly encourage girls as young as ten to marry much older men for “spiritual guidance”. Men in this church are reportedly entitled to marry girls to shield them from pre-marital sex, with girls becoming second or third wives in a polygamous marriage.
Statistics say that 34% of girls in Zimbabwe are married before the age of 18 and 5% are married before their 15th birthday.
In Africa’s poorest countries young girls drop out of school because their parents cannot afford to pay school fees, which in turn puts girls at a higher risk of being married off.
Child marriage in most cases is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys.
In large parts of Africa child marriages are still a big issue that need to be addressed, What the people who are responsible for early child marriages do not get is that woman are also people and that only a girl can grow to become a woman and no young mother can ever grow to become a woman.
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Mmeme Mbambo 