Child marriage is a recurring phenomenon in some regions of the Land of Clean Men. From one village to another, cases abound and often end in the same way. Either a runaway, a suicide or a crime. In the case of Farida (not borrowing), the solution was for her to leave the country altogether on her wedding day.
Born in a village in western Burkina Faso, Farida did not attend school until she was 8 years old. At 12 years old, she was in the first year middle course (CM1) and moved to a higher class at the end of the year. During the holidays and in order to have some money for the start of the school year, she decided to go to the capital, Ouagadougou, to assist a lady from her village as a nanny. This for a monthly premium. With this sum, she expected to have enough to pay for supplies, clothes and to prepare well for her Primary School Certificate exam (CEP).
It’s already back to school, after three months in town, Farida finds her classmates on the benches of the public primary school in her village and obtains her Certificate at 13 years old. From a poor relation and having had no help to enroll in an establishment, she decides to go back to town to look for herself. This time not for three months but for a year at least. Her goal is to work, earn money in order to be able to register for the next year in 6 th and help her poor mother and her young brothers and sisters.
After a year of hard work in the capital, the 15-year-old girl returns to her family to realize her dream of continuing her studies. It is at this moment that his whole life will change. While she was killing herself in town, her parents had already sealed her fate by accepting the marriage proposal of a well-heeled man who already had two wives. At 15, Farida thus became the third wife of a man who was almost his father’s age (40).
It was a pompous wedding in the village, it was joy for the guests except for the bride. Not wanting to let it go, the bride with the help of a young person from the village to run away during the wedding night. Surrounded by her aunts while waiting for the moment of intimacy with her man, Farida pretended to want to go to relieve herself. As in many villages, the needs are in nature. It is by this subterfuge that the new bride who had instigated the blow with a young person from a neighboring village, slipped behind the bush and passed between the mesh of her guardian of aunt who waited for her in the half-light. Destination a neighboring country to escape the consummation of this early marriage.
Alice Kouaman / Zonou
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