Blog 2- Child Brides

Summary:

Last week, I brought about the topic of child brides and its prevalence rate in Islam and went briefly into the adverse physical effects it has on a child’s development at a young age. This week, the topic revolves around the personal effects being a child bride can have. The article I found, “The Stark Contrast between Child Brides and School Girls”, gives great insight to the detriment being a child bride has. The article and video takes place in Chad, Africa and depicts a particular child who sees her life in two ways. One way, the worst and horrible way, was that child as a bride on her death bed with loved ones crying over her. The video states that, in Africa, 13.5 million girls under the age of 18 were forced into marriage and of that 13.5 million, 7 out of ten of them die while giving birth (Couch, 2015). Yet another horrific fact given in this video is these girls are often secluded in their homes, made to do everything, and are often with violent husbands. Another depiction in this video was with the same girl, but this version was her being allowed to go to school, make friends, and be a child.

Analysis:

I find this topic to bring intense feelings of anger and sadness and the desire to speak up and do something. Not only is the topic of child brides revolting, but this article and video shows just a couple of effects a child bride experiences. Throughout the video, you could see the girl wanting to have what ultimately she could have, you saw her fear and innocence being taken away, and you saw her life yanked out from under her. All of this needs to change and I say we start now!

Work Cited

Couch, R. (2015, February 4). Dramatic Video Shows Stark Contrast Between Life As A Child Bride And As A School Girl. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/child-brides-chad-unicef_n_6607552.html

Time Stamp: 2/13/15 8:16pm