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nuvistors · ‎01-30-2013

Naghma, the Afghan girl sold to be a child bride

Taj Mohammad tries hard to hold back his tears as he describes the most painful decision of his life.

"I had to sell my six-year-old daughter Naghma to a relative to settle an old debt," Mr Mohammad says, staring blankly at the tattered tarpaulin roof of his small mud shelter.

A shy girl with a smiling face, Naghma is now engaged to a boy 10 years older than her. Mr Mohammad says his daughter may have to leave for the boy's home in Helmand's Sangin district in a year.

His wife and mother-in-law sob inconsolably as they try to protect Naghma and her seven siblings from the harsh Afghan winter outside.

"Everyone in the family is sad," says Naghma's grandmother, who was herself a child bride. "We cry. We are in pain. But what else could we do?" she asks before answering her own question.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21245099

puckstopshere · ‎01-30-2013

Too Young to Wed - The secret world of child brides

Because the wedding was illegal and a secret, except to the invited guests, and because marriage rites in Rajasthan are often conducted late at night, it was well into the afternoon before the three girl brides in this dry farm settlement in the north of India began to prepare themselves for their sacred vows. They squatted side by side on the dirt, a crowd of village women holding sari cloth around them as a makeshift curtain, and poured soapy water from a metal pan over their heads. Two of the brides, the sisters Radha and Gora, were 15 and 13, old enough to understand what was happening. The third, their niece Rajani, was 5. She wore a pink T-shirt with a butterfly design on the shoulder. A grown-up helped her pull it off to bathe.

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There is a lot more to this article. It took me a long time to wade through what appeared to be biased articles - written by Christians or Jews. There were also many articles by those with Arab sounding names, but no proof as to there true origins. This article is from a reputatble source - worth reading.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/child-brides/gorney-text

puckstopshere · ‎01-30-2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/world/asia/31flogging.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎01-30-2013

James Wallace Fall married his 10 year old niece and justified it through the Bible. Not an accepted practice amongst most Christians, though in parts of Africa and Latin America with Christian majorities older men marrying young girls still happens.

Imagine if he were Muslim this would be blamed on Islam

FULL article: http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/07/man-married-10-year-old-and-said-it-was-biblically-justified/

And if you read in the bible about child marriage and child slavery and even selling off your daughter…….it is allowed. I’m in no way defending or promoting that at all….but what I find laughable are the religious people who say at the bible, is '''''God’s Word''''''!!! No discussion about it….that’s it….done! They even use bible scripture to attack other people of different races and sexual orientation. So…..if the bible is good enough to follow over in one area because it is '''''God’s Word'''''''…..then why is it different in another area? There is probably something somewhere in the bible about hypocrisy.

Child marriage….countries, cultures and laws in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage#European_Judaism

Then there are ‘arranged’ marriages. They also cross a wide variety of cultures and religious beliefs….Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism etc

There are also ‘semi-arranged’ marriages. What are those? Well they are families who the father or mother decide if the daughter should marry a man she is interested in. All sorts of pressures can be brought on her until the parents….find someone….they like! I know this Greek woman who lives in a very tightly knit family and ethnic community. She was ‘groomed’ to be the epitome of daughters. She was also absolutely beautiful…model/actress material. But every boy/young man she went out with had to be judged by the parents. Eventually ‘they’ picked one and she was married at 18. Three children later the once happy go-lucky girl is now a miserable wife, at home, being the ‘perfect wife’. You couldn’t get a smile out of her these days with a crowbar. The guy she married has the personality of a flat tire….but he was Greek and filled all the parents qualifications from family heritage, including that he would make …….money!….and he has.

Such is life in the strange varied world we live in.

puckstopshere · ‎01-30-2013

Not an accepted practice amongst most Christians, though in parts of Africa and Latin America with Christian majorities older men marrying young girls still happens

Ah, yes! Dig up another wrong to go with the first one. Of course, two wrongs don't make a right. One only needs to go to the Southern U.S. to find older guys marrying young women. I had several business trips there a number of years ago. Learned fast not to ask questions. Ask one exec. if the picture on his desk was his daughter. No, it was his wife. Looked like a pic from a hgih school year book. I met a number of business people along with their wives. In most case, the guys were in their 40's or 50's. The wives appeared to be in their early 20's. Seems to be the thing to do down there. Marry and then, when you get tired of having a wife your own age, you dump her and find a young one. (well, at least they are not marrying a relative - I don't think).

The example you give is, I believe, unusual. In the Muslim world, it is now illegal in many countries but still practiced widely. I realize that it is their culture, but they need to rethink these marriages. Of course their are Muhammed and Aisha. He was 52, she was somewhat younger.

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎01-30-2013

I never said two wrongs make a right. I was simply pointing out that the person who is always searching the media for anything wrong that Muslims or Islam has done.....could expand his searches to other cultures and religions. I mean you're the one who believes in balance and keeping one's mind open...at least that's what you preach. So in all fairness and balance don't talk to just me about that.....if you want balance then tell the same to others.

puckstopshere · ‎01-30-2013

Agony of the child brides forced to marry as young as SIX to men up to EIGHT TIMES their age

The United Nations Population Fund released a report to coincide with the inaugural Day of the Girl Child, detailing how millions of girls each year are still being pushed to wed much-older men.

Child marriage continues to plague developing countries across the world, where girls as young as six are wed to men sometimes four, five, six or seven times their age.

Many will become pregnant and die while giving birth — the leading cause of death among 15-to-19-year-old girls in these countries, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Thursday, Oct. 11 marked the inaugural International Day of the Girl Child, aimed at helping young women pursue their potential and avoid a marriage they are not physically or emotionally ready for. UNFPA released a report detailing how more than 142 million girls under the age of 18 will become child brides in the next decade.

“No country can afford the lost opportunity, waste of talent or personal exploitation that child marriage causes,” said UNFPA’s executive director Babatunde Osotimehin, according to Reuters.

Despite efforts to crack down on child marriage, laws aren’t enforced and weddings are held in secrecy — and the number of girls forced to wed is actually increasing.

It’s most rampant in Asia, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, but also still prevalent in parts of Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, according to the report.

One in three girls in the developing world will marry before they turn 18. Those with no education are most likely to be married. It’s a trend that propagates poverty, STDs and economic dependency.

Photographer Stephanie Sinclair partnered with UNFPA for “Too Young to Wed,” a series of stark photos highlighting the lives of child brides.

“I was given to my husband when I was little and I don’t even remember when I was given because I was so little,” said one girl named Kansas, 18. “It’s my husband who brought me up.”

Another girl, who married at age 6, admitted she had no idea how babies are made, despite being a mother herself.

“I don’t know how children are made,” Tehani, of Yemen, said. “But they get pregnant ... They carry it inside their stomach. Then they deliver it and it comes out a baby.”

UNFPA urges governments to end child marriage by enforcing laws, identifying the areas where girls are most at risk of becoming a child bride, and expanding prevention programs.

It’s most rampant in Asia, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, but also still prevalent in parts of Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, according to the report.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/photos-life-child-bride-article-1.1182062#ixzz2JU2Yfttq

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎01-30-2013

I totally 'personally' agree with these groups that child brides are wrong from many perspectives but I also have to ask with an open mind.....do we have a right as 'outsiders' to condemn what they do in their lives and have for countless centuries in some cases? Wouldn't that be like saying we think we are totally right and that's all there is to it? I remember someone saying that to someone recently.

In the past few years somewhere in the vast forests of Brazil or Peru (I forget exactly where) someone from a helicopter spotted a tribe of people who no one knew existed. This tribe probably has never met another outside human being. Through a stroke of intelligence that someone with a real brain had.....they and the government have decided to leave the people alone and not interfere in their lives. What a unique concept!

I also wonder, if one day when we find intelligent life on another planet and they don't meet up to our 'expectations and values'.....will we try and change them as well. Of course on the flip side I wonder how we would like it if suddenly space ships landed and those people told us.......that we would have to change things in our lives and cultures. They may even have some sacred books that say we are not living the ......true way!

Not that I was a real follower of the show but I always kind of liked the 'Prime Directive' from Star Trek which dictates that...... "there can be no interference with the internal development of alien civilizations". It's almost like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". (how's that for open minded?) What an interesting idea.....you live your life and we'll live our life and we both respect each other and keep our noses out of other's lives.

puckstopshere · ‎01-30-2013

I was simply pointing out that the person who is always searching the media for anything wrong that Muslims or Islam has done.....

Only searched because of the original post. Was not on my agenda, otherwise. I am well aware that child brides are not unique to the Muslim world. It is the numbers that are unique.

One can find examples of charismatic "religious leaders" in the U.S. who form communes and brainwash their followers. These "sects" have forced marriages and under age brides are common. Some even spend their first night of wedded bliss with the sect leader, not their husband. However, these "sects" are far from being a worldwide religion.

I grew up in B.C.where the Doukhobors were located. They are (were) a religious sect based on a strict following of the Bible. They were originally pacifists". Several breakaway groups used arson and bombing to protest government interference in their way of life. My family and I were actually involved in the bombing of the Post Office in Osoyoos. The government wanted the kids to go to school - which was against the sects beliefs. They put 150 kids into a residential school in New Denver, B.C. (sound familiar). There was also evidence of child brides being given into arranged marriages. The leader of the group bought land in Mexico. They regularly moved "married couples" between B.C. and Mexico to avoid arrest. Again, this group is small in tiny in comparison to other groups that have the practice of marrying off children to adults.