I was married at 14. It killed my dreams. I’m so lonely and miss my family

TEENAGER FORCED INTO MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD

married. Without an education, you can’t be anyone in this country.” We meet more girls like Alima and the stories keep coming... Hamchatou Balde told how she, too, was sold as a bride by her father when she was just 14. She wanted to be a teacher but, when her mother died, she had to quit school at the age of 12 to cook and clean for her family. At 13, she fell pregnant to another teenager, bringing shame on her family. After having her daughter she was betrothed to a man 15 years older. Hamchatou had a second daughter five months ago but they are so poor they have had to return to her father’s village in order to survive. Now 16, Hamchatou can barely look us in the eye as she cradles her children in the family’s hut, which has no toilet or running water.

She said: “I was sad when I found out I was going to be married. I was scared and I asked ‘why?’ I don’t love my husband, but I have to stay.

TERRIFYING

“I miss school. I am not happy. I wanted better things for myself. Maybe in time I can love my husband but he just loves his own baby. He doesn’t take care of my first baby.”

Hamchatou says she is at least grateful that her husband does not hit her. Many other young brides, like Kadidiatou Gadgigol, have experienced terrifying violence.

She was 14 when her parents arranged her marriage, to a 28-yearold soldier stationed in their village.

She was sent to live with his family over 100 miles away. He refused to send enough money to buy food and hit her when she protested.

Then he started forcing her into sex. He beat her so badly in the final weeks of her pregnancy that she had to have an emergency Caesarean section.

Perhaps she is one of the lucky ones, because she has escaped the marriage.

Now 23, she and her three-year-old daughter live with her own family. Kadidiatou said: “My husband has tried to get me to come back to him. I am scared of him because he is violent. I forgive my parents for making me marry so young but I want better for my daughter. She will stay in school.”

Yet saddeningly, some of the poorest families feel like they have no option but to sell their daughters as brides.

Dieymaba Diamoulha was wed at 12 to a man in his 60s. She had a child at 16 and almost died because her tiny, malnourished body could not cope.

She went on to have four more children and is now 36. Her husband is over 80 and too old to support them.

So Dieymaba works on a farm to feed the family – but does not earn enough to pay for treatment if they fall sick. And that could force her to let her own daughters, aged 12 and 14, to