A Little Girl's Moment Of Courage
Captured On Camera Is The Reason We Need To Look After Each Other
Terrified
and fearful for her future, 11-year-old Nada al-Ahdal fled her family in her
hometown in Yemen to stay with her uncle nearby. Why? Well, her incredibly
gut-wrenching description of her experience— and that of millions of girls
across the world —is too powerful for me to try to put into words.
Look into her eyes and let her explain to you herself. At 1:38,
she asks a question that the whole of humanity needs to answer.
The story of brave little
Nada Alahdal who RAN AWAY FROM HOME because she would would rather die than be
forced into child marriage. She speaks so eloquently about her ordeal.
A
video, posted on YouTube, shows an 11-year-old Yemeni girl called Nada al-Ahdal
recounting how she escaped her parents who wanted to force her to marry. Nada
comes from a modest family and is one of eight siblings. Fortunately for her,
her uncle Abdel Salam al-Ahdal, a montage and graphics technician in a TV
station, decided to take her in when she was three years old, to live with him
and his aging mother, away from her parents.
Nada
was not an only child at home. Her uncle had also taken his other nephew under
his wing, as the boy's own father couldn't afford his son's medical
requirements. Abdel Salam was thus responsible for bringing up two children. He
personally took care of keeping them, and his frail mother, clean and well-fed.
Nada
grew up in this caring environment, went to school, and learned English during
the summer vacation. She has her own Facebook page, was a gifted singer, and
took part in musicals. However, her happiness was cut short when someone came
to ask her parents for her hand in marriage. The man, a Yemeni expatriate
living in Saudi Arabia, did not care about the girl's age. Her parents were
happy because the prospective groom worked abroad and was rich.
Abdel
Salam tells NOW: "When I heard about the groom, I panicked. Nada was not
even 11 years old; she was exactly 10 years and 3 months. I could not allow her
to be married off and have her future destroyed, especially since her aunt was
forced to marry at 13 and burnt herself. I did all I could to prevent that
marriage. I called the groom and told him Nada was no good for him. I told him
she did not wear the veil and he asked if things were going to remain like
that. I said 'yes, and I agree because she chose it.' I also told him that she
liked singing and asked if he would remain engaged to her."
The
groom recanted the engagement and told the girl's parents he did not want their
daughter anymore. Nada's parents, looking forward to a hefty bride price, were
disappointed.
Nada
had an 18 year-old sister who had been engaged many times. Her parents accepted
each new proposal and took a partial downpayment for a bride price. They would
then postpone the marriage until the groom had enough money, eventually ending
each engagement, not returning the money. The same story would start all over
again with another suitor, and so it was that she had had nine fiancés.
After
Abdel Salam succeeded in warding off Nada's first husband-to-be, her parents
came from Zubaid on a visit to Sana'a and asked for their daughter to stay with
them until mid-Ramadan. Abdel Salam agreed only to learn from the parents days
later that Nada had disappeared.
At one
point Nada escaped and tried to return to her uncle. When she got back to
Sana'a, she was scared he would take her back to her mother. He found out
afterwards that Nada's mother wanted to marry her off again but did not tell
him as she feared he would "scare away" the suitor as he had done the
first time around.
Abdel
Salam took Nada and went to the Ministry of the Interior's family protection
department. He explained to them what had happened and they carried out
investigations with Nada, her uncle, and her parents. They discovered that
there had been no kidnapping and that the parents wanted to marry their
daughter against her will. The case ended with Nada's father apologizing for
fear of being sentenced for wrongful accusations and saying that he trusted his
brother with bringing up his daughter.
In a
message sent to NOW, Nada addressed every mother and father seeking to marry
off their daughters, saying: "I am a child and I want to realize my
dreams. My aunt was forced to get married so she burned herself to death, and I
saw pictures of her with burns. Let me realize my dream. I want to go to
school, become a star, and help other children. I am not thinking about
marriage, I don't want to now. I want to say to fathers and mother, 'let us
realize our dreams, do not kill them'."
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