6 Year Old Afghan Girl Rescued from Child Bride Fate

     After all of my recent rather depressing blogs on crimes such as rape and child bartering, I have come across a more lighthearted article. In this article a 6 year old Afghan girl who was sold by her father in order to pay off a family medical debt got a struck of luck. She will now be able to stay with her parents thanks to an anonymous donor who has payed off the debt of $2,500 through an American lawyer. The selling of children occurs in many different countries. The families come to such desperation that they feel as they have no choice other than to sell a child in return for their debt. If not, they would most likely be killed and unable to care for their other family.
     The girl was sold by her father after he borrowed $2,500 from a fellow refugee camp resident over the course of a year. He needed the money to pay for a hospital treatment for his wife and medical care for some of his nine children, one of which later froze to death. If he was unable to pay it off in another year, the young girl would be forced to wed the lender's 17 year old son. Even though the girl will remain with her family, she will undoubtedly continue to live in extreme poverty and may still be forced to marry when she is older. This cycle of poverty essentially can be traced back to the fact that the girls new 'husbands' force them to drop out of school. This young girl was one of the luckier ones in Afghanistan where half of all girls are forced to marry under 15 years old. This is in spite of the legal age for marriage in Afghanistan at 16.
     The government has been unable to challenge the law effectively as these acts have become a tradition in the Afghan patriarchal society. It's become somewhat traditional to give girls away to settle debts or pay for their relatives crimes.  Even if the girls try to escape, they will be publicly looked down upon. In 2010, two girls who were 13 and 14 dressed as boys and fled their elderly husbands after refusing to consummate their marriages. They were eventually caught and returned home where they were publicly beaten viciously. Authorities did nothing even though the act was caught on tape.  A girl from another case was brought to justice after she was brutally tortured by her in laws, so It seems as though the authorities pick and choose which cases to administer help to.
     The subject of child marriage just really hits my heart. For it to occur in more than 50 countries around the world is just absurd. These poor little girls have no voice for themselves and must obey what they are told in order to not be shunned from the family, or even worse killed. Poverty is the main reason for why such things are happening so frequently. It's just sad that families feel that they must sell their own child in order to pay an outstanding debt. I hope more people like this anonymous donor would be able to help people like this more often. We as a society should find ways to help them, it's just a matter of educating ourselves more on the subject. 

Source:  http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/afghan-girl--6--rescued-from-child-bride-fate--many-others-not-so-lucky-181725317.html