I ran away three times but my parents returned me. The labour was long and hard when at 13 I gave birth to his child. My husband died when I was 16. Now no one wants me for I never properly recovered. The old men prefer the little sisters on the brink of puberty who are virgins to any widow however young.
Child marriage continues unabated in several regions.
In Africa among many communities stricken with the AIDS pandemic, it may even be on the increase. It is bad enough to be an adult widow in Africa and on the sub-continent, but to have reached this ignominious status in childhood is profoundly cruel. The knowledge that a girl has no father to protect her may make her more vulnerable to sexual abuse. Child marriages arranged by the parents fall outside their remit and so continue unregulated. Poor parents and especially destitute widows, much as they love their daughters, are often forced by their social and economic circumstances to deliver them up to a precarious future.