“We accept $3,500 to marry our 5 year-old daughter to fit pay for our son medical treatment"
One Afghan family wey water shortage pursue from dia house say dem sell dia daughter enta one marriage to pay for di treatment of dia sick son. But di son neva still recover and dem dey tink of selling dia two oda daughters wey neva reach 5 years.
Nazanin dey engage wen she be five. By di time wey she be 10, she don turn wife. Di family of her 12-year-old husband buy her for $3,500 six years ago. Di mama of Nazanin wey dey live for Shahrak e Sabz refugee camp near Herat for western Afghanistan tok say; "My son pain dey serious well-well. Wen I look im face, I tell mysef say make we take di money. Nazanin papa no wan first gree but I convince am to accept di money in exchange for our daughter." "I take di money and agree to give away my eldest pikin Nazanin for marriage. I use di money take pay for my son treatment. But my son no recover, and I still no get my daughter." Drawing of man hand wey dey give Afghan currency to anoda pesin Nazanin papa tell Inayatulhaq Yasini from BBC World Service why dem take di decision to sell dia daughter. "Our son don dey suffer from epilepsy from di age of four and we no get money to pay for im treatment." "If someone sell im small pikin like dis, na normal tin to regret about am. Regret go dey, me too I dey regret but e no make sense to regret. Nazanin parents get seven pikin- three girls and four boys. Dem no go school and no sabi read or write. Dem no get get money, and jobs. Di papa say if di way im dey suffer continue, e go sell di remaining two as im daughters na di only assets wey im get. "If my suffering continue, and if I find anybodi wey dey ready to pay for my oda girls I go still sell dem. Pipo wey lend me money dey call me two or three times a day say make I pay dem back, my daughters na di only assets I get." Drawing wey show Nazanin dey leave her family home Di drought, water shortage wey worry most of Afghanistan for 2018, affect di farming business of Nazanin family. Dia animals die sake of no water to drink and di family abandon dia native village for Badghis Province inside north-western Afghanistan and dem move go di camp near Herat. Drawing wey show dead cow and family wey dey force to move away from dia home because of drought Nazanin wey be 11 years now, get luck say dem no marry her give old man. "She spend two months for her in-law place. Dem treat her like dia own daughter. Her husband dey about twelve years old. E also dey very shy and no dey tok too much." Di mama tok. Di mama add say dem ask di in-law to let dia daughter stay wit dem for few more years and dem agree. Nazanin don go back to her parents but her in-laws promise to take her back afta she don grow up small, in two or three years. "She no sabi anytin about how to deal wit her father-in-law, mother-in-law and wit her husband because she dey very young," di papa tok. Drawing wey show Nazanin and two wedding rings Child marriages For Afghanistan, di legal age of marriage for women na 16 and 18 for men. But many of dem dey marry for younger age. According to one 2018 UNICEF report, 35% of Afghan girls dey marry by di time dem reach 18, and 9% dey marry before dem reach 15. For oda kontries, Niger na im get di worst figure, as 76% of girls dey marry before dem reach 18 years. For Bangladesh, wey tins don beta small recently, 59% of girls na im be dia figure according to di report.