I didn’t want to get married. I wanted first to go to school. I got married at 14.
My mother asked me to come home to meet a stranger who was visiting saying it was an uncle when in fact it was the uncle of my husband. And when I arrived they locked the door behind me. They called the car to get me and they took me away by force into the car. I wanted to jump out of the car to get away, but there were men guarding me on either side and I couldn’t get out. That same day when we arrived I wanted to run away. Then in less than two weeks I managed to escape and come back home. But my mother said no, she said if I came back she would leave the house and disown me. That’s how I was forced to go.
I wanted to commit suicide.
I was 15 when I became pregnant. When I was in my seventh month of pregnancy, he beat me and my belly started aching. After a week I was still in pain so they took me to the hospital where I gave birth to premature twins.
I decided that a lot of people needed to hear my story because I feel so sad. First I go door to door asking them to come to my place. When they come I tell them my story. Like what my mother did to me. She became blind, there was no more money and she preferred that I get married. I also want to advise the mothers not to send their children off to marriage so early, even if they are struggling financially. Attending school is a good thing because these days we have equality of the sexes. A girl cannot just stay at home doing the housework while the husband goes to work. I want my daughter Anne Martha to go to school so she can have a good education. It’s for this reason that I’m committed to mobilizing young people, mothers and fathers so that children’s rights are respected
Narrative and image provided by UNICEF
