Video After The Jump
Nine-year-old Parwana dug her heels into the ground as she tried to resist being taken from her family home after she was sold into marriage with a 55-year-old man in northwest Afghanistan last week.
Village & displaced people’s camp leaders say the numbers of young girls getting betrothed started to rise during a 2018 famine & surged this year when the rains failed once more.
Parwana’s family has lived in poverty for years, but life has gotten harder for them since the Taliban takeover of the country earlier this year & as international aid has dried up.
Abdul Malik, Parwana’s father, told CNN ahead of the sale that he was “broken” with guilt & worry, but had no choice as the family is unable to afford food.
Several months ago he sold Parwana’s 12-year-old sister & he already knows the money from the sale of Parwana won’t last long.
Ahead of the sale, Parwana said that she was sold because the family doesn’t have money for food.
“He has sold me to an old man,” said the girl, who had dreamed of becoming a teacher.
On October 24, a man named Qorban paid 200,000 Afghanis (approximately $2,200) & was given Parwana in a ceremony in the displacement camp on the outskirts of Qala-e-Naw, in Afghanistan’s Badghis province.
“[Parwana] was cheap & her father was very poor & he needs money,” Qorban told CNN. “She will be working in my home. I won’t beat her. I will treat her like a family member. I will be kind.”
Child marriage has been practiced in Afghanistan for centuries, but war & climate change-related poverty have driven many families to resort to striking deals earlier & earlier in girls’ lives.
#afghanistan #afghans #poverty #impoverished #desperate #disgusting #inexcusable #kids #children #childbrides #9yearsold #dirtyoldmen #perverts #elderlymen #dad #father #fatheranddaughter #daughters
Source: Times Of Israel
Follow Me
}
Comments