JUBRIL ADESOLA FEATURE ARTICLE Child Marriage Phone: (289) 788-3940 March 12, 2014 Enitan06@gmail.

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Child Marriage: A Silencer of Teenagers Dream

Hamilton, CA.-March 12, 2014- Alemtsahye Gebrekidan was 10 when her childhood suddenly came to an abrupt end. I was playing outside and my mum called me inside to the house, she remembers of the day her world changed forever. She said, you are going to marry I was surprised and I cried but I did not say anything to them (her parents) and her wedding to a boy of 16, took place just two months later Says Alemtsahye Gebrekidan in a recent article published in the U.K. Daily Mail. There is no doubt that child marriage is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the flesh of many African and Asian nations of the world. It can be simply regarded as a cancer, which has intricately woven into the fabrics of most African and Asian countries. It was stated by WHO-World Health Organization that one third of the worlds girls are married before the age of 18, in a recent article published in the U.K. Daily Mail. It is a known fact that girls are not the only victims of forced marriages, according to Jacqui Hunt, London Director of campaigning charity Equality Now. He also added that, girls experience is often more traumatic. Boys do get married young, and that is an issue that needs to be addressed, but the majority of child marriages involve girls, this statement was made in a recent article published in the U.K. Daily Mail. There are several reasons for child marriages, it ranges from poverty, culture, illiteracy, and family tradition, and most countries that are synonymous to this abnormality are Indian, the Middle East, and Sub-Sahara Africa. The consequences of child marriages are appalling, because the girls education and childhood will be cut short. Meanwhile the girls usually suffer traumatic initiation into sexual relationships, and often put at risk

of domestic violence, can even suffer disease like VVF- Vesico Vagina Fistula. Whenever a young girl cannot withstand the sexual pressure faced from her far old betrothed husband, they end up battling the disease that has no cure, but could only be medically managed for life. Marrying out girls out before they attain the age of 18 often rob of their childhood happiness and quality education, It is a violation of human right when thoroughly analyzed, According to Alemtsahye, in a recent article in the U.K. I was in school she remembers, although I stopped the school when I was married, I do have happy memories of childhood because it was just eat and play. All that ended when it was decided she would marry a boy, who until the day of their wedding, she never met. By the time, she was 13; she was already a widow and a mother, although still a child herself. She had a baby boy and she still remembers the pregnancy and birth as a traumatic experience, made worse by the fact that her immature body could not cope with the physical demands of carrying a baby. When I was pregnant, it was so painful and I cried, she recalls. When the baby was delivered it was equally very painful because I was a child myself, if pregnancy was difficult, motherhood was even tougher. Says Alemtsahye in a recent article published in the U.K. Daily Mail.

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Concisely, to put an absolute stop to this menace of child marriage in the afore-mentioned countries, it requires a radical change of attitude, and proper exposure should be given to the parents of the victims, in order for them to know the consequences of involving in such a barbaric act. In conclusion, the future holds nothing less than gloom if this societal cancer is allowed to continue to spread unchecked, and is presently responsible for many-recorded maternal mortality in the world today. For the parents of those girls, do not damage his or her life. Send them to school to study, and do not marry them out young, because they will miss their childhood. Says Alemtsahye in a recent article published in the U.K. Daily Mail. -30-

REFERENCE: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2543166/Ethiopian-former-child--bride-tells-harrowing-story.html