End Child Marriage

Naisiae, As the name implies, she is a hardworking and innocent young lady. She wears a load that is heavier than she is. Her chastised hands exemplify a woman's difficult responsibilities. Her face is an art of blows, possibly from her husband's fist. This trip to the hospital is a welcome respite following a hard day of responsibilities.

Naisiae is dragging herself to the dispensary, which is 7 kilometers away from her home, on this hot afternoon. Her uncoordinated gait evokes the image of a fatigued and unwell person. She sits beneath this sycamore tree, which is tired from the gloomy sun. Naisiae attempts to catch her breath as hard as she can. She wipes the filthy sweat from her brow to the bulging veins on her pale cheeks with tears.

The journey is like watching grass grow as she wraps her tired hands around her aching back. Today is more difficult than any other day. Her bulging tummy is a symptom of a baby growing within another baby, not of eating too much food or, worse, not eating at all. Naisiae is nine months pregnant. Consider how difficult it must be for a youngster to carry another child.

Naisiae never imagined that at the age of thirteen, reality would set in. What, after all, does reality dawn on children? She considered herself defying all odds in a society enslaved by and impoverished by poverty. It's been three months of being out of school. This is an even worse thought: she will never walk to school again. Sadly, a dream was shattered.

This was not always the case. Naisiae was blissfully going to school a few months before Covid-19 knocked on her door. Despite the long walks, she was determined to make it and pass. Long walks on an empty stomach gave her optimism that she would be able to fulfill her destiny by working hard to pass and bring about the change she desired. That was until schools were forced to close indefinately and trainees were sent home to prevent contracting Covid-19. Naisiae had returned home, where everything was more difficult than school; Daily wife obligations, sleeping exhausted and hungry, and, worst of all, enduring daily blows from the husband.

She recalls how it all began, her eyes welling up with tears. After a few months of staying at home owing to the virus, three elderly men with a flock of sheep paid a visit to her mother. Your guess is just as accurate as mine. This was for the purpose of exchanging a girl for marriage. She is not yet a woman and has no experience with marriage. She continues to seek parental advice. What irony that her parents consented to marry off a daughter to another parent, the alleged husband.

Naisiae recalled packing her belongings and accompanying an elder, let's say the husband. A baby who is unaware of the responsibilities that lies ahead of her. Not to mention becoming a mother, this is just one of many. And now she's heavily pregnant and unsure why she's heading to the hospital or why things are happening in such an unusual way. Naisiae is perplexed as to why she no longer lives with her mother, but rather with a stranger who is doing things she was never told about. Terrible things no one would wish to happen to their child.

This trip to the hospital appears to take a long time because it is made not only on foot but also in the thoughts. It's an ocean of anguish tears with no one to wipe them away. A girl's dreams were destroyed, and her fate changed. Will she summon the courage, if not the strength, to arrive at the hospital in one piece?

When girls are rushedly married off, they are subjected to this or worse. And who will speak on their behalf? Of course, you and I will choose to challenge and say "STOP" to child marriage if we all want to do so.