Prior to the children’s day celebration I approached my neighbour Aishat in other to plead with her to show me around because I was new to the environment and I intended taking my little cousin out for fun on children's day.
I overheard Aishat my neighbor crying around the corner, as I approached her and asked her what was wrong then she told me her story...
Aishat got married at the age of 15, to a man she never fancied and was 30years of age. She had a dream of becoming a teacher but was unable to achieve this dream all in the name of traditionalism which has become an obsession. Aishat had been bethroded to someone without her consent and even before she was old enough to understand the basics of life.
Filled with so much torture and sadness caused by her husband she often considers committing suicide...Tears couldn't stop flowing down my cheeks while I listened to her. I felt the pains of a girl who couldn't enjoy the positive side of life, a girl who had dreams but couldn't achieve it, a girl who was meant to be loved but she was in pains.
African traditions and beliefs has been for ages and is still practised in our century... child marriage is as a tradition that is meant to be my nullified.
Statistics show that
In Africa, 82% of women with no education were married before 18, as opposed to 13% of women who had at least finished high school. In northern Nigeria, parents have complained that the quality of education is so poor, which makes schooling not considered. Therefore the available alternative is marriage for their daughters which isn't meant to be.
source
Autonomy and consents are two major elements to be considered before marriage, but it's a pity we don't put them in use. Why on earth do we have to get our daughters married without their consent, why on earth do we have to throw them into the pit of sorrow without considering their feelings. He asked for her hands in marriage all in the name of love, but all he needed was a young blood for his beastly desires. She didn't say yes because she loved him, but because she was afraid of becoming an outcast.
A lot of people has argued in the past
Many claimed it is illiteracy, others affirmed it is poverty, but I call it heartlessness. She wants to walk on the street in majesty, she wants to be a child then a woman, she wants to sit among men with a smile as gorgeous as a full moon surrounded by stars, but her dreams are like wetting the sun!. Child marriage causes emotional,physical and psychological break down and Its a pity most of our parents don't know what it is.Their plight seem to have gone down in history.It is important to explore the practice of child marriage in Nigeria and some part of Africa a bit more deeply.
Give them a life that is worthy, give them pencils not penis, they want to hold books not babies. And let them be a child not a woman.