Marriage with girls under the age of 18 is still common in some rural areas of Darfur, despite many outspoken Darfuri advocates working to highlight the implications and risks associated with the practice.

By Sharon Lukunka

Sarah was still a child on the day of her wedding. At age 14, she was forced to marry a man seven years older than she was. Now, four years after her wedding, she has a one-year-old child. Her story is not unusual in Darfur, where many young girls living in rural areas are compelled to enter marriage.

“If my father says that I have to marry a man, I have to,” Sarah says. Following the death of her mother, Sarah’s father arranged for her to be married so she could take care of herself and her siblings. To support the family, Sarah works in the farms and fetches firewood to sell in the market. “Before I got married, I wanted to finish school and study to be a teacher,” she says. “I would prefer going to school because it is not easy to take care of a home and a baby while working.”

Ms. Kaltoum Ibrahim Ahmed, a resident of the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people and an outspoken advocate for women, explains that these practices have been going on for a long time in Darfur, especially in rural areas, and in other parts of Sudan. Early marriages, she says, typically deny girls the opportunity to pursue an education, and rob them of their childhood. In addition, most child brides, burdened by their responsibilities, do not interact with their peers or cultivate friendships outside the household.

“Early marriages should be discouraged because girls suffer a lot; they are not prepared to handle the responsibilities that come with the union,” says Ms. Ahmed. “The girls get frustrated and some even attempt to run away because, in most cases, they find they are not compatible with their husbands.”

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Read the full story in the January issue of Voices of Darfur. Download the magazine (PDF) here.

On 22 November 2012 in the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people in North Darfur, Darlanean, once a child bride, is pictured in her house. Darlanean, who has been divorced twice, was first forced to get married when she was 9 years old. Later, when she was 13, she was forced into marriage again. Now she is studying at the University of El Fasher and has no plans to remarry. Photo by Albert González Farran.