Nampula is the Mozambican province where more children are married

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Nampula is the Mozambican province where more children are married

1:16 CAT | 02 Jun 2016

DW (File photo) / A view of Nampula city

In Mozambique it is forbidden to marry before age of 18, but early marriages continue to take place in many communities. In the northern province of Nampula, six out of ten girls are married before they reach that age.

Sonia is 14 years old and leads a family of three: she, her husband and a two-year old son. Timidly, she says she does not know for sure what caused her to marry so soon, “I just married”, she says.

When she had the baby, Sonia left school. “I left in the fifth grade,” he explains.

She is currently unemployed. Deals with the many chores: cooking, cleaning the house, doing the laundry. The niece and her husband sometimes help. Sonia wants to return to school next year “. I will go back to school, yes”

Mozambican law prohibits marriage before 18 years of age, but this is a practice rooted in many communities in the country. It is estimated that Nampula is one of Mozambican provinces where most are found early marriages.

From strategy to concrete actions

According to non-governmental organization World Vision, six out of ten girls marry before age 18 in the northern province.

“This is a tragedy,” says Eleuterio Fenita of World Vision. “Fortunately our country has a national strategy for the elimination of early marriages, which was recently approved by the Government. Now what remains is to go from what is defined in this strategy to action.”

According to Fenita, it is necessary to look at the social and cultural root causes of early marriages – there are, for example, economic reasons it would be necessary to attack from now, says the official.

Visiting Nampula province since Tuesday (31.05), the Mozambican first lady, Isaura Nyusi recalled that one can not give up the fight for children’s rights: “Our government has been very attentive to the child, and so have all of us. Of course we have many challenges ahead, and we must all work together, ” she said.

Source: Deutsche Welle