adminRumbie Marime
AS other little girls are joyfully singing through their chores or taking an occasional moment to exchange carefree banter at the communal borehole, one girl’s life is seemingly coming to an end. At 12 years when most children are eagerly awaiting the transition from primary to secondary school, she is being prepared for her marriage ceremony to a man old enough to be her grandfather.
As if that is not a terrifying thought alone, she is to be wife number eight in a long accumulated line with some women who are older than her own mother. Her reality has grown stale overnight and she cannot and does not know how to escape her future.
The girl child, despite being brought up in more modern times, is still in some instances, finding herself a bargaining chip for livelihood. In certain religious sects, children as young as 12 years of age are married off in fulfilment of some holy “visions” or simply because it is the acceptable tradition and norm within that community.
The child is given no choice in the matter and her opinion is not even consulted in most situations.
Some children have grown up in this culture and are so indoctrinated by these beliefs that they take pride in bringing honour to their families by embracing these forced early marriages.
Gone are the innocent thoughts of playing with one’s school mates, swimming with peers at the river and other frivolous activities which often bring joy to a child’s life.
In comes the fear and physical horrors of premature child birth, the responsibilities of a child mothering another child and the vulnerability that comes with being a thoroughly dependent and voiceless female at an older man’s mercy.
Such situations are fertile grounds for all forms of abuse and domestic violence with detrimental consequences not only to the child who has to live through this existence but possibly the children she bears as well.
In more urban settings, the escalation of poverty has resulted in unsavoury means of acquiring a temporary relief through early marriages and premature sexual activity. Children are forced to become adults and breadwinners upon losing their parents and guardians and often the girl child can find herself attached to any male who will have her so long as he provides her with food and survival.
Other girls become traders of commercial sex at shockingly young ages, taken advantage of by males who can afford the service and in most cases battered and bruised in acts of serious violence.
These heinous crimes often go unreported and unaddressed as there are often parties who stand to gain from such arrangements.
The saddest situation of all is when the girl child herself trades her future and well being for such situations which often possess false promises of gratification and in reality could be the beginning to a very sad ending.
Simukai Child Protection Programme, a registered welfare and protection organisation PVO 27/12, working with abused, abandoned and neglected children in all the 7 districts of Manicaland, urges each and every being to play a part in the protection of our future generation by reporting any cases of child sexual abuse and child marriages.
A child under the age of 16 is protected by the laws of the Government of Zimbabwe from any form of sexual exploitation and anybody found to be engaging in such activities with a minor will be found guilty of statutory rape among other possible convictions.
Therefore let us all join hands in protecting our children by reporting cases that violate their rights, ultimately interfering with their childhood and future.
For feedback and comments please email us on the following: [email protected] or visit our facebook page: Simukai Child Protection Programme.
Online Reporter