One 15-year-old girl was one of millions of child brides around the world before she escaped the horrendous of sexual abuse she was subjected to from a 35-year-old man.
Latifa came from a family of six in Tanzania and was sold into marriage at just 15-years-old where she was forced to share a bed with a stranger.
The schoolgirl loved learning, especially science and physics, but she often went to bed hungry and only had enough to eat twice a day.
She wanted to become a doctor, she told Plan International: “Every time I walked past the large hospital in my hometown, I thought that one day I’ll be working in there in a white coat and helping young children who have become ill with malaria and other things.
“I worked hard, listened to the teachers and did my homework every day.”
Then one day her father told her she should not go to school the next day – instead of a day of studies she was sold off to a man named Salum. Her father said the man had paid to marry her, she didn’t know what this meant.
Then her stepmother gave her a purple sequined wedding dress ad explained what would be expected of her once she married. Latifa did not understand and cried all week. She explained: “On the day Salum was due to come, I packed all my clothes into a small red bag then a lady from the village arrived to draw henna paint on my arms and legs. I put on the dress and waited.”
Salum arrived and took her to the capital, Dar es Salaam, by bus. The man tried to talk to her but it was too much for the young girl to cope with. She said: “I sat silent, looking down at the floor of the bus and cried. Salum asked why I was crying. I was silent. Once we got into our new home, he stopped talking. He took off my dress and laid me down on the mattress. What happened afterwards hurt and felt weird and wrong. I was just sad.”
She spent her days alone while Salum worked as a car mechanic. She said: “I was expected to do everything in the house, go to the market and cook. Everything was new and I found it difficult. I was still sad and cried a lot. I missed school and my friends.”
Then the sexual abuse started. Latifa said: “He started coming home later in the evenings, often drunk. Then he beat me and forced me to have sex again and again. I wanted to leave him but I had nowhere to go. After nine months, I gave birth to a baby. The birth took 11 hours and at the end I went to the local hospital built by Plan International.
“The doctor who was there was kind and helped me. He told me that I could do this. They had to cut me to get the baby out because I was so young. When Zainabu was born, I was happy to see her. She was healthy and weighed 3.5 kg. That same day, my neighbours took me back home with my new baby. I was confused and happy at the same time. Salum was not home and he did not see his daughter until late in the evening. He did not seem happy.”
After her child was born Salum threw her out onto the streets. Latifa came home to find her belongings outside the locked apartment.
She said: “Salum had disappeared without notice or explanation. I stood there alone with my two-month-old baby strapped onto my back and cried. The next day I took the suitcase and the baby and went to Burunguri market where I begged for food from market stalls.
“Those who worked there gave me some rice, beans and occasionally some fruit. I was hungry all the time – hungry, scared and alone. At night I slept with the baby. We lay on the ground with a thin red kanga below us. I held her close to me. We lived like this for two months and fortunately Zainabu did not get sick.”
Thankfully, Latifa was taken in by a woman called Happy. Latifa said: “Since I’ve been living with Happy, life has been a little better. Now I’m not alone anymore. There is someone I can talk to, laugh with and feel that someone cares about me.
Now Latifa makes her own money, saving some through Plan International’s local savings group. She said: “My baby is now almost one year old and I hope that her life will be better than mine. I’ll do what I can to ensure that she gets to go to school and she will not be married to a man against her will.”
