Zohal’s Flight to Safety
Zohal was born in a poor family in a village near Kabul. She and her sister grew up without their father. They grew up without love or education, without hope or dreams. When she was a young girl, Zohal’s...
From the Courts: Maryam’s Story
Maryam was born in a dark period of her family’s life. Her mother died when she was a child and her father forced her to marry a man when she was thirteen years old. Her father was paid a...
For Nilab, Forced to Marry at Thirteen
This story is written for my relative Nilab, an unlucky girl who was born to family that already had six daughters at home. Nilab’s parents didn’t want her and sent her to live with her grandparents and aunts. She...
The Marriage Tradeoff
In the Daykundi province in the center of Afghanistan lived a woman named Rahima who had three sons and a beautiful daughter. Each day she kneaded bread in the early morning for fifteen people in the family, then went...
The Curse of Child Marriage: Our Neglect and Ignorance
Let me begin with a story of an Indian woman that was presented at a TED talk: “I am going to give you a story. It’s an Indian story about an Indian woman and her journey. Let me begin with my...
Mahatma Gandhi on Early Marriage
It is Gandhiji’s birthday today. Did you know that even Gandhi was married when he was just thirteen years old? He talks about his personal experience in his autobiography – My experiments with truth. Excerpts: Much as I...
Early Marriage: Robbing Children of their Basic Rights
When I look back at my childhood days, I’m filled with pleasant memories of innocent fun and basking in immense pampering. My Parents loved me, protected me, supported me, gave me good education, allowed me to think and take...
Marrying Young in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has many traditions that allow families to marry their daughters at young ages without their consent. For example, there is a tradition in some provinces that allows families to engage two children even before their birth. Called Naami...
Why Parents Must Stop Marrying Girls Early
Early marriage has many negative effects on families, but unfortunately most of the negative effects apply to the young girl’s life. Young girls face various physical and mental problems due to early marriage because they don’t have the experience...
Eight Daughters for Sale, the Oldest First
One afternoon after Fershta and her sisters returned home from school, their father told them he had decided to sell them, one by one, by having them engaged to be married. The family’s economic situation was very bad so...