A four square meter hole for the house. Mubarak lives with her husband and four children in the middle of this hole dug in the ground. A tarp stretched over their shelter protects them from the scorching sun. A mother looks at her son. A few months ago, the boy fell off a motorcycle and became disabled. It was for him that she took the decision to marry off her 10-year-old daughter. “I want to use the money from the sale for my son”Mubarak explains that he hopes to receive around 4,500 euros in dowry.
“The husband we found for her is deaf, but we have no choice. We have to sacrifice her to take our son to see a doctor in Kabul or Pakistan.”
In Afghanistan, 70% of people do not have enough to eat. The country, economically devastated by 40 years of war, was already living under an infusion of international aid. This aid was halted when the Taliban seized power a year ago, causing Afghanistan to lose 40% of its GDP.
In camps for displaced people in Ghali-e-Naw, capital of Badghis province in the east of the country, families live in extreme poverty and take unimaginable measures. A month ago, Rabia Ahmed got her daughter married to a Kazakh. She is only 12 years old. “The person we borrowed from asked us to pay it back everyday. That’s why we gave our daughter to a 40-year-old man. He lent us 50,000 Afghanis.Rabia breathes. He told us: ‘If you don’t have the money to pay me back, give me your daughter. No one works in my house, my husband is disabled and my son is only 10 years old.
Rabia left her drought-stricken village four years ago. The destitute family has been plunged into more misery in recent months: “Rice and oil are very expensive. We eat dinner every ten days, otherwise we eat bread with tea and sometimes sleep on an empty stomach. Drinkable water.”
“I am not happy that I gave my daughter in marriage, she is not ready to be pregnant or take care of the house, because we are starving, I took this decision for the sake of my other children.”
Rabia AhmedAt franceinfo
In Budkis, 90% of the people do not have enough to eat. Many families marry off their girls and receive a dowry that will only allow them to live for a few months.
Surviving forced marriage of girls in Afghanistan. Report by Sonia Gesali.
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