Sierra Leone- Freetown: Parents who are unable to repay their loans use their daughters as an alternative payment by handing them away to creditors. A recent research by Save the Children has revealed.
The research titled: “My Body. My Decision. My Rights: Reducing Child And Forced Marriage In Sierra Leone” is part of the Reducing Child, Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM project which is currently being implemented in Sierra Leone.
Save the Children International Project Director, Modupe Taiwo explained that “the drivers of child marriage, from the quantitative study says largely that when families owe loans or they have a creditor and they cannot pay back they just send in the girl as a replacement for loan payment to service that loan.”
She explained that the study reveals that “many girls are becoming pregnant in Sierra Leone and there are a lot of drivers and lots of factors that are contributing to teenage pregnancy.”
Save the Children International Project Director said that other variables that correlated with early child and forced marriage outside of teenage pregnancy and poverty were also examined. “We found out that family size is very significant especially when a family have more than five daughters. It is so easy to give out some in marriage.”
“We found out that adolescent girls in a polygamy are easier to get married compared to a monogamous family. We also found out the education of a mother play a protective role in preventing child marriage. Mother who had at least primary education indicated that they do not want their daughters to get married,” she said.
Modupe Taiwo further explained that the during the research “We recognized that some of these marriages are forced because these adolescent girls don’t have a part in it, they are not contributing to it, they are not interested in it.”
In terms of marriage decisions, she said, “we find out also that less than 4O% of adolescent report that they have influence, especially after completion of the Bondo rites they feel they are ready.”
Adding that “this is because many of these girls do not have access to higher level of education.”
The Project Director explained that in most of the communities “we went to they completed primary education but then there are no Secondary Schools” to attend. She added that the secondary schools that are available are very far away in other communities. She said due to that, girls there are often idle, “they are bored there is nothing more to engage themselves with, and the models they see in their communities are those who are married,” especially when the girl who is going to be married is brought beautiful clothes and presented with nice gifts.
The Project Director said “that’s what they look forward to, because of no recreational facilities.”
She said in Kailahun district in particular most of the communities don’t have good roads, no electricity nothing to attract them other than finding a man and move in.
Save the Children International Project Director, Modupe Taiwo explained that during the cause of the research “we worked with very young adolescents 10 to 14 year old and older adolescent 15 to 18 year old. And then we have 438, married adolescents, and 326 husbands.”
She said that it was a bit challenging to work with husbands, because many husbands especially older ones who are married to adolescent have a fear of being arrested.
OG/10/8/2021