Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Marriage at 12 Years Old
Imagine being 15 years old or even younger and then getting told you had to marry a person that is already picked for you. In America this would be crazy and unheard of but in other parts of the world there is no choice. In Niger, Africa a girl named Balkissa Chaibou was told at the age of 12 that she had to marry her cousin. As you can probably imagine she was devastated. Her dream in life was to become a doctor and now her dream was being interrupted by this marriage. In spite of this break in her plan she kept going to school until she reached her diploma. At this point in her life she decided to take action. She went to her parents but they weren’t able to help her so she brought her uncle to court. While in court he denied the accusations and claimed it was all just a misunderstanding. But when they got home, he threatened to kill her. This resulted in Balkissa staying in a women’s refugee shelter. In the end, her uncle was sentenced to jail for a forced marriage and Balkissa’s is currently in medical school working to be a doctor. What do you want to accomplish?
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Although many people hate to admit it, it happens frequently. For example, in Kenya a nine year old boy was forced to marry a fifty two year old woman. Why?. Because they thought there was bad voodoo curse circling the two families, and this was the only way to get rid of it. Call me crazy, but this story is 100% true.
ReplyDeleteWhoah. I'm going to sit down, curl into the fetal position, and get that story out of my mind.
DeleteThis is pretty horrible, but in the olden days these things happened a lot. People would get married very young and they usually married their relatives. They didn't get a choice and their parents would decide for them. In my opinion, this is really unfair since you should be the one to decide your future. Some parents think that they are making the right decision, but sometimes they are forced to. Then some kids run away from being forced to marry, and I think is really stupid. What would you do if you were being forced to marry someone?
ReplyDeleteAlso some people also suicide from being forced.
DeleteDear Josie,
ReplyDeleteThat is so crazy! I would be so confused if my mom came up to me an said I'm am getting an arranged marriage. 12 Years old is such a young age to get married. I am glad that we live here and we can chose who we want to marry. I want to accomplish that no one has to have an arranged marriage if they don't want one. What do you think about this conflict?
When I first read this I thought it was insane. I also found it very interesting so did a little but more research into and found out that this happens very often. Some people just don't have the guts to stick up for their rights. I am sure this little girl was so scared trying to take her uncle to court and then being told she was going to be killed.It takes some serious trust.
ReplyDelete