Scroll down the page

Ama

At 14 I was abducted for child marriage.

 

At just 14 years old, Ama was kidnapped by two men on a motorcycle one evening on her way back from school.  Arriving at the village of the kidnappers, she heard some children shouting: "Hafali, Hafali", which means "new wife".

Not seeing her returning from school, Ama's father got worried and turned to ActionAid to ask for help to find his daughter.

Thanks to the intervention of ActionAid today Ama is no longer afraid of becoming a child bride to older men.  She knows that she can count on the help of his family and ActionAid. "I am part of the girls' club in my village. Everybody calls us ‘ActionAid girls’ and they know not to mess with us!”

It is estimated that every day 33 thousand girls are forced into child marriage. Often this phenomenon severely hurts the physical and psychological development of the child, who remains isolated from society and is forced to leave school and face pregnancies at high risk of mortality.

Thanks to the work with our local partners, we work on a daily basis to intercept cases of possible early marriages and we act immediately so that the girls most at risk can continue to grow up free and safe.

 

Photocredit: Ruth McDowall/ActionAid