Planet Earth

It was last Sunday evening when I watched the local TV news and I could not believe what I saw with my own eyes. At 14 years, a girl was married and pregnant. This happened to a girl in Turkana District where she was forced by her mother to get married.

As she explained how she got into marriage, I felt sorry for her since her mother denied her the right to get an education. She also explained that she is not the only one who has gone through this situation; there are many young girls who have gone through this. I was reading a report by UNICEF (http://www.unicef.gr/pdfs/Early-Marriage.pdf) that said that 30.5% of women in Kenya get married before the age of 18 years.

This happened to my friend’s cousin in Kikuyu District. His cousin was forced to get married at the age of 16 years so that her family could get rich easily since the family got ten cattle as the bride price. Her mother did not value her education; all she wanted was to get rich. This has made my friend’s cousin feel like an outcast in society and she can’t go back to school. I felt so sorry for her since she did not complete her education. Four years later, she is still married and has one child.

I was reading an Adventist News Network article (http://news.adventist.org/data/2006/1150229698/index.html.en) and I thought this was an interesting part: “ ‘The Maasai community [has] a low opinion [of] women. Hence they believe educating a girl is wasting [a family's] resources because she will one day be married off and end up being of benefit to another family…’” This is the reason why the Maasai want their girls to get into early marriages.

I’m pleading to the government of Kenya to take action on this issue of early marriages that are affecting our young girls by denying them their right to education. The laws are there, but there’s no one to enforce them. The government should call for public awareness where they can discuss the issue with various communities, especially the Maasai. If this is done, the girls will not only be protected from early marriages but they will have a much brighter future too.