Jul
18
Written by:
David Strickland
7/18/2010 10:49 AM
3 years ago when we brought our girls into the home there was a widow with 2 daughters she wanted our help with. Last year before we left for America. The eldest of the two was starting to do beter in school. Her english was improving, we doubted she would be able to go to college but we had hoped to put her through some tailoring classes and some other skill training so she might still make more of her life then what seemed her destiny otherwise.
Tonight 5 girls were to show up. 5 beds were made but only 4 will be slept in. It was a hard decision to let the girls stay with family while we visited America. One of our girls reached puberty and started in the way of women. She was 14 it was time but the damage was more then we had imagined. Her grandparents have decided that it's time for her to marry. Her 16 year old sister will be married in a few weeks and our 14 year old girl will likely be married a few months after that. They will not let her leave the house. She can not go to school and there is nothing we can do about it. We invested 3 years of our life and emotions into her only to have her grandparents marry her off in an illegal wedding we can't stop.
The widowed mother came this evening with the younger girl and told us the elder girl would not be coming because she was getting married. It was a hard choice but we told her that unless both come neither can. We can not expend the resources on the younger girl just to have the same thing happen to her in 4 years. The mother says she'll bring them both back some time next week. Some how we doubt it.
In the end there's nothing we can do without putting all our girls at risk but it's heart wrenching. No one to protect her, stuck in a system stacked against her. In all likelihood by this time next year she'll be pregnent soon to become a mother and the cycle will start other again. All we can do is pray she doesn't have a daughter of her own.