The idea of spending her life with a man she had never met was too much for Mary. She was still not present when her family arranged for her to be married to a stranger from a village near northern Burkina Faso, and was never consulted about the union.
Desperate, the 20-year-old left her family home one night last month and walked for hours through the bush for Kaya town. Her goal: a shelter run by nuns where she could continue her neglected education. He lost the SIM card of his phone so that his family could not access it.
“It was my grandfather who wanted to give me a wedding and my parents didn’t say anything,” said Mary, who didn’t want to use her real name. “They can’t say anything because they can’t disobey him,” she said, biting her nails. According to Burkina Faso’s government, there were more than 650 cases of forced marriage and 2,200 child marriages between 2019 and 2021, although this is likely a low number as many arrangements are made in secret.
Going to school has become increasingly challenging in north and east Burkina Faso, where attacks have forced the government to close hundreds of schools and prompt more families to marry off their daughters. More than 100 young women have taken refuge with the nuns at the St. Maria Goretti shelter, where Mary will soon resume her studies.
Sister Veronique, who works at the shelter, said: “Some were raped, others were beaten up.” Véronique takes care of 16-year-old girls like Evelyn, whose grandfather was going to force her to marry an older man after an attack on their village, which they fled.
“I heard this and ran to get here,” said Evelyn in St. Maria Goretti before leaving for school with the pink bag. I’m still a kid, and on top of that, I want to study,” said Evelyn, also a pseudonym. Evelyn’s parents found her at the shelter. But social workers convinced him to let him stay to pursue his education.
Sister Veronique says that many girls find it difficult to adjust once they leave the house, but they soon flourish. Slowly, over time and with the help of goodwill … they resume their taste for life.
Source: eNCA
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