Child marriage survivor says Canada needs to outlaw child marriage
Samra Zafar was just 16 when her parents forced her to marry a man who lived far from her home in Abu Dhabi. Today, she is Dr. Samra Zafar—a physician and inspirational human rights activist. But the journey from child bride to an advocate for women’s rights was anything but easy. Her story is a testament to the power of community in transforming the lives of young girls.
“It’s your destiny”
Zafar, a Pakistani, was married off to an acquaintance of her parents residing in Mississauga, Ontario. They told her, “It’s your destiny.” The man, 11 years her senior, promised she would be able to pursue higher education—but it was an empty promise.
Zafar husband was also abusive. She was not allowed to work and so had no money of her own. When she was 21 and her first child was two years old, he only allowed her to leave the house once a week for a few hours to take their daughter to an early years center. In an interview with Yahoo News, she recalls how liberated she felt, if only for a short time each week:
“It was my few hours of escape” … “Sometimes I would hide under the Credit River Bridge and pull off my hijab so that I could feel the breeze in my hair for a few minutes.”
It was during one of those outings that Zafar’s life began to change. After misplacing a coin, a stranger offered to pay for a Time Horton’s donut her daughter had already started eating. Although she was never given money of her own, she had been saving the occasional loonie or toonie she found around the house. Inspired by that stranger’s kindness, she enrolled in her first high school course at an independent learning center that very day.
That one act of kindness was the beginning of many more. A woman from the center recognized the abuse and helped Zafar get legal aid. When she applied to university at 26 years old, the registrar helped her bypass the waitlist, and a professor wrote her a powerful letter of recommendation that helped her secure a scholarship. She also began taking on baby sitting jobs to pay for her education. It was around this time that she finally found the strength and support to leave her husband. Her university roommates helped care for her children while she sought legal help.