African Voices - End Child Marriage

it's criminal you know toar a a girl who

is less than a 18 years of age it's

criminal and by definition a child in

the African Union is a child who is less

than 18 years of age can you imagine

your own daughter composing a poem out

of her un preventable pain and

experience unusual disease is about to

take my life I will leave this this

world with pains and years remembering

I'm affected because of you raped me at

the age of seven as young as I was as

innocent as I was I will leave this

world with pains and anger that I would

get married or be loved here when they

discriminate my infection listen to the

pains in my heart it hurts like my son's

death it beats like SA or getting

married at 8 marrying people at the age

of 8 is not right it is not only

marrying it's it's like the Massi custom

is if you go a man goes to your house

and you're pregnant they give you a ring

you wear it on your small finger and

they say if you deliver a baby girl is

going to be their wife or being a mother

at

13 I bir

to can you feel the pain and remain

unmoved because for far too many of us

on the continent the nightmare of child

marriage is our current narrative I can

talk of FY it's very common in Malawi

it's not as FY whereby when a girl comes

out comes of age she has to sleep with

an older man that's just a way of

showing that she's now grown up we live

in a world where girls are regarded as a

commodity to settle debts promised to

men before we even born and generally

abused because of poverty and tradition

I think we need to differentiate between

tradition and what I would call Pure

ignorance because it's some of these

Traditions that we so tightly hold on to

that are going to destroy us and the

future Generations consider our value

before we can send our girls to school

and before we can do all this because of

the grade but we need to change our

perception of the value of woman we need

to make it the value of an individual a

human being before the value of anyone

else's

object being a woman doesn't mean that

you cannot be a leader

so every woman can be a leader and every

girl can be whatsoever she wants in

life if you're a girl believe in

yourself if you're a man respect that

girl respect her as your friend as your

sister when a girl is very empowered

when a girl when a boy wants to force

her to sex she will say no so whatever

they hear no it actually means no no

does not mean consider our solution

education should be free for all because

I think it's a human right each and

every person deserves the right to be

educated and to be in

school and if boys were being talked to

like they were as girls are being talked

to about the awareness and the

consequences that comes out of her being

an ha father Yes I think every child

marriages could reduce every man is a

potential rapist if we are able to

address this

through by being a by stander

our sisters will all be safe and bring

us to the discussion table the best we

can do is send representations and send

pieces of paper I'm I'm really like I'm

tired of just sending youth declarations

and sending pieces of paper I think

another part of it is just giving us

space in the room here we are we are the

girls who are getting married we are the

girls were dropping out they're seeing

us they're hearing us and it it can't be

denied when the physical people actually

there can it with your support and the

enactment of laws we're beginning to see

a change the girl child is a Sil the

bullet for the change of development in

Africa if we do not Empower them there

will be no future for anyone as we

actually bring a robust evidence in

terms of what works to prevent child

marriages so we've been tracking that

evidence since 2001 and we are able to

demonstrate that education can delay the

age at which the girls get married can

delay the age at which the girls get

have children the young women become

economically independent they're able to

support themselves and support their

families we are also waiting on the

children's Cod

Bill uh this is a bill that is trying to

bring all the different pieces of

registration to protect children into

one so that we can effectively protect

our children so the children's Cod be

will soon be uh taken to par so that it

becomes law and once that one is law I

think we'll be assured as a country that

a lot of our children will be protected

from all these Rices we've supported in

Zambia over 200,000 girls that are in

school that are coming out of school

that are engaged and speaking against

this Vice and helping other young girls

and women not to fall into the Trap as

long as we are empowering them to get

some means of supporting themselves

speaking for themselves we are winning

and we will

win we were very satisfied when that

bill passed we were at Parliament when

the bill was being passed engaging with

the minister of gender herself and as

well as other stakeholders and uh uh but

the passing of a law is only the

beginning because it is the enforcement

of the law that truly changes the lives

of the girl child uh at the local level

now my wife and I we have three sons we

don't have girls but I do not want my

sons to grow up in an Africa where the

girl child is at a

disadvantage a activity of marrying

girls very young is condoned by the

women themselves you know old women in

The Villages the education is very very

important they should rise against this

but even more important is issue of men

you know men who look at some of these

issues although they seem to be favoring

men in The Villages or even in the towns

but to rise up and say it is wrong you

know you cannot marry children at that

very very early age so it has to be a

partnership between the men and the

women this is something we cannot do on

our own you know the men and women must

sit together you know and work on this

we need to see more change we need all

our governments and our people to stand

up for

us in child marriage in Africa now it

must be done