End Child Marriage
Today, October 11, is the International Day of the Girl Child as named by the United Nations and the focus theme this year is Ending Child Marriage. As someone who makes her living celebrating marriage, I strongly believe that it's important that every marriage is entered into willingly and lovingly. Sadly, for many young girls, this is not the case.In developing nations, one in seven girls is forced into marriage before her 15th birthday. Some of these child brides are as young as eight years old, marrying men upwards of 20 years their senior. Child marriage is not isolated - it's in the millions.From the Girls Not Brides website:Every year, an estimated 10 million girls aged under 18 are marriedworldwide with little or no say in the matter. That’s more than 25,000girls every day, or 19 every minute. In the developing world, one inseven girls is married before her 15th birthday.Neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers,these girls are at far greater risk of experiencing dangerouscomplications in pregnancy and childbirth, becoming infected withHIV/AIDS and suffering domestic violence. With little access toeducation and economic opportunities, they and their families are morelikely to live in poverty.Once a girl is married, her schooling is usually ended and she is thrust into the role of wife, housekeeper and mother. Instead of playing with dolls, they are tending babies. Child marriage robs girls of their childhood. We are lucky that this is not a practice here in Costa Rica but unfortunately, millions of girls in other countries aren't so blessed.So what can you do?Learn and share. Let others know about child marriage and its impact on millions of girls and their families.Donate. Every dollar helps organizations in educating and changing the social climate to reject child marriage. Catapult has a number of organizations dedicated to ending child marriage you can support.Liene Stevens of Think Splendid, is credited to bringing the Day of the Girl Child and child marriage to my attention. I'd like to share the following from her blog, on how to support two great projects that help people in developing nations escape the yoke of poverty, which in turn, aids in ending child marriage:Lack of access to clean water keeps the poverty cycle going, and it isespecially damning for girls. If a school doesn't have a bathroom, thenpre-teen and teenage girls have to miss a week of school each monthbecause of their periods, leaving it difficult for them to catch up tothe boys in education and making it more difficult to pass the testsrequired to get into college or other higher levels of schooling, makingit difficult to get better, higher paying jobs. With a higher payingjob, girls can support their families with outside means; without it thefamilies often use the girls as a means of support. Then the cyclecontinues. Charity: Water is an organization that works to provide clean waterfor communities around the world. Having access to clean water is animportant step in ending poverty and ending child marriage.Kiva allows you to make a small loan (in increments of $25) to other entrepreneurs around the world.When the loan is paid back, you have the option to withdraw it orre-loan it to another entrepreneur. These loans help real people runtheir businesses, allowing them to build a better life for theirfamilies and end the cycle of poverty. You can also give Kiva giftcards,which make great stocking stuffers or thank you gifts, and because ofthe payback/re-loan model, it becomes a gift that keeps on giving. Ifyou're interested in loaning specifically to people in the global wedding industry, you can find those options here.