100 Women and 100 Dreams Project: Haedah and Alea’s Stories 

This is the sixth installment in the series, read the first installment, Khorshid and Madinah’s Stories here, and the second installment, Leilah and Kulthoom’s stories here, the third installment, Hafsa and Gul-jan’s Stories here, the fourth installment, Iffat and Ahoo’s Stories here, and the fifth installment, Mahreen and Rayaa’s here. 

Be a Kid Again Day on July 8th is a time to let out your inner child and celebrate by doing things like riding a bike, playing dress-ups or making a mud pie. But sadly, for many children around the world, childhood is cut short by child marriage. A situation one survivor described as “a life stealing event”, child marriage not only steals away childhood, but leaves children vulnerable to forced labor, sexual exploitation and abuse.  

The Global Campaign for the Prevention of Child Marriage (GCPCM) is an ongoing awareness raising campaign that aims to help stop child marriage through education and storytelling. As part of the campaign,100 women from around the world who were forced to marry under the age of 18 were interviewed by volunteer community members. Human Trafficking Search and Freedom United are also supporting the efforts to end child marriage by publishing these stories and with actions you can take to add your voice to the fight. 

Sending a powerful global message of hope, Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad recently banned child marriage. World leaders, government officials, and civil society need to build on this momentum and make ending forced marriage a priority. Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 put ending forced marriage on the global agenda and with support for this goal, we can help change the lives of children like Haedah and Alea for the better. But we need people like you to help push governments and civil society to make ending this abhorrent practice a priority by signing our petition. Case by case, country by country, we can push lawmakers and politicians to protect children from this abhorrent practice. 

So, this Be a Kid Again Day, celebrate by reading about the lived experiences of child marriage survivors and then take action to help end this practice and support children around the world in STAYING kids.   

Haedah: Afghanistan 

Haedah is a girl from Afghanistan, she was married at 11 and was a mother by 13. She remembers before she was married, she had dreams of continuing her education to become a doctor. But forced marriage put an end to those dreams.  

This is Haedah’s story.  

“I was sold into marriage for 10 dollars at the age of 11. Unfortunately, my father was an addict, and my family was very poor. We didn’t even have food to eat, and we lived on the outskirts of the village. My mother was a worker, and my father was an irresponsible person who always beat me and my mother, we lived in torture. I always wanted to leave this house, to go to another city. My childhood was very difficult for me, and I don’t like to talk about that time because remembering it is very painful for me. My mother was a worker in a carpet weaving workshop, and she coughed a lot and sometimes couldn’t breathe. When I was a child, I really wanted to become a doctor in the future and cure my mother’s illness. My father took money my mother earned to pay for his drugs, so we often had nothing to eat.”  

“One day my father came home, grabbed my wrist and said, “you have to follow me”. I was very scared because my father always beat us and yelled at me. I remember he said, “Come, follow me, trash girl. I’m getting rid of you today.” I was a very small child, only 11 years old, with small hands that I had no strength to escape from my father. He took me to an old man. I still remember the terrifying eyes of that old man who looked at me with a smile. Then my father put my hand in the old man’s hands and while I was crying, he told me that from today this gentleman would take care of me and I must do whatever he said. I was very scared and asked for help but instead the old man and my father took me to a priest. Unfortunately, that day the 50-year-old man became my husband. My father had forced me to get married to an old man in exchange for just for 10 dollars and 3 bags of flour and 2 bags of sugar.”  

“At the age of 11 I didn’t know anything about marriage, and I couldn’t sleep for days. The old man tortured me at night and told me I had to give him a child. I was an 11-year-old child married to an old man who treated me like his slave. My life was very difficult. I became a mother at the age of 13 when my first child was born. I then had two more children, one at the age of 14 and another at 16. At least when my children were born, I was happy because I could play with them. I was lucky and when I was 20 years old my husband died, and I became a young widow. I decided not to get married again and raised my 3 children on my own. I have devoted my whole life to my children. I am very happy to say that all of my children are happy. I ask you to please continue your campaign and be my voice and that of other women in the world who were forced to marry and end the practice of child marriage forever.”  

Alea: Iraq  

Alea was a 14-year-old girl living in Iraq who dreamed to continue her education when she was forced to marry.  

This is Alea’s story:  

“I was a village girl, and my family were farmers. In our village, it was customary for girls to get married at a very young age and child marriage was very common for us. I remember that one of the dreams of the little girls in our village was to become a bride. As a child, I loved to wear a wedding dress and one of my friends and I used to play the game of being a bride. Unfortunately, we really didn’t know anything about being a bride and we only saw weddings as a celebration, we didn’t understand what it really meant. My marriage as a child was a direct result of the culture and beliefs that were passed down from my parents and inflicted on me and other girls in the village. I became a victim of the views and practices of past generations.” 

“I was a very happy girl in general. I was 14 years old when my mother called me one morning and said that a suitor was coming for me that evening. I began singing and dancing in the yard, but she said I should not show myself to be happy. She told me that girls should be modest. But I ignored her and continued dancing again. That night, one of the village boys who was 17 years old came to our house with his parents. I thought I was the happiest girl on earth at that moment. Time passed quickly and soon after that I got married to the boy. At that time, I didn’t know anything about life or marriage and the problems marriage so young might bring. I thought that marriage was like living at home with my parents, but I was completely wrong.” 

“When I was a little girl, I loved learning to read and write, attending classes at the village mosque with other girls. I started school at the age of 13. I really wanted to be able to read different books and continue learning. But my marriage ended my education and did not allow me to pursue my dreams. I was attending school prior to my marriage, but after the wedding took place, I had to go to my husband’s house where I was expected to cook, clean the house, and even help my mother-in-law. It was very difficult work for me. Even worse, my husband wouldn’t let me study any further and told me I had to stay at home. He said a woman’s duty was only to cook and have children. Child marriage was a life-stealing experience for me. I became another victim of outdated cultural practices that need to be abolished.”  

The United Nations views child marriage as a human rights violation, removing a girl’s agency to make decisions about her own life and often robbing her of a life free of violence due to spousal abuse and frequent pregnancy and childbirth, resulting in higher-than-average maternal morbidity and mortality rates.  

Only by investing in women and championing gender equality can we create a future where everyone in society can thrive, creating a world of boundless opportunity and empowerment for all. 

GPCMC aims to raise awareness and illuminate people’s minds about the issue of child marriage by sharing the stories of women who experienced this trauma from around the world. GPCMC believes sharing the lived experiences of these survivors will act as a powerful tool to empower girls globally and help prevent child marriage in future.  

 To learn more or help with this campaign follow GCPCH on twitter: https://twitter.com/GCPCM2