Child Protection Bangladesh Project #21141

Save a Girl from Child Marriage with a Scholarship

by World Concern

Project Report | Oct 11, 2016
You're Helping Moms Stop Child Marriage!

By Jonathan Steck | Senior Editor

You're Helping Moms Stop Child Marriage!

As well as saving girls from child marriage, and giving them an education for a future filled with opportunity, you're also giving moms in Bangladesh a voice ... something they've never had before.

Your gifts are empowering moms to speak out, and advocate against child marriage. Thanks to you, it''s saving their daughters and changing a culture that's existed for generations.

Many of the moms were child-brides themselves, being married off to strangers when they were as young as 10-years-old. They know exactly the pain that it can cause, and so want to save their daughters from the same heartache. Thanks to your gifts that are allowing the poorest village girls to stay in school, these moms are bringing change to their community.

“The women are the real poor ones,” says the one of the moms. “So we work to ensure children are in school, and not working or being married.”

This is real community development in action, and your gifts are making happen!

Even from the other side of the world, you’re standing hand-in-hand with these women and their daughters. We are so thankful for you. Just listen to how empowered these women are:

“If a husband is beating a wife, we go to them and tell them to stop. We restore that dispute,” she says proudly.

These moms are real-life super-heroes, swooping into challenging situations and standing in the gap for their children. So far, their compassionate determination has saved over 70 marriages, and stopped numerous child-marriages from going forward. You're keeping their daughters in school, and together lives are changing.

Thank you for joining these women and helping them make a stand against child marriage and the treatment of girls in the poorest places.

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Jul 12, 2016
Girls Are Escaping Child Marriage Thanks To YOU!

By Jonathan Steck | Senior Editor

Thank you for saving girls from child marriage!

Stacey S. is a World Concern partner who recently visited our Child Protection work in Bangladesh. The following post shows how your gifts are making a lasting, and tangible difference in the lives of girls at risk of child-marriage.

I'd traveled a long way to visit with young Prishna.

I had heard many amazing things about a girl who had escaped child-marriage and was now helping others.

The first thing I noticed about Prishna was how thin she was. She was much smaller than other teenage girls, and I discovered afterwards that it was because Prishna had been severely malnourished growing up. This was my first introduction to how devastating poverty in a country like Bangladesh can really be.

As people mingled around her, Prishna's head was down and her eyes fixed on the floor. But every once in a while she would look up and glance at me.

Prishna was one of the few girls that had managed to avoid child marriage, and now dedicates her time to helping other teens do the same. After we were all introduced, Prishna quietly started to speak, and her story showed me why your support of girls at risk is so important.

Since she was just a little girl, Prishna’s family had planned to marry her off on her 10th birthday. It sounded unbelievable to hear this, but for girls in the poor villages of Bangladesh it was frighteningly common to be passed off onto a complete stranger. Poverty forces families to do unthinkable things sometimes, but thanks to people like you girls are being saved. And Prishna was now showing other girls how to avoid this horror altogether.

Prishna is now a familiar face in the villages, as she bravely shares her story of escape with others. And her message is simple ... to say “NO”. She first rejected child marriage at the age of 10 ... then 11 ... and each year after that. By the time Prishna was 14, World Concern had helped her to stay in school.

Your support gives girls like Prishna a chance to stay in school and avoid child marriage. But without you, families trapped in poverty have no other choice but to pull their daughters from school and marry them off to older men.

Today, Prishna wants to finish her studies and become a doctor. Her dream is that she will return to this community and ensure the families here have access to good health care.

As I listened to Prishna speak, I become even more empowered to stop this terrible practice. I decided it would start with me sharing her story, and so I'd encourage you to do the same because together we can stop child marriage by keeping these amazing girls in school.

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Apr 20, 2016
You Saved Her from Being Married at Fifteen!

By Jonathan Steck | Senior Editor

Thank You for Saving Shefali from Marriage!

“My father wanted me to stop my education,” says 15 year old Shefali.

This is the sad and terrible reality for many Bangladeshi girls Shefali’s age. In this country's remote villages, education has little value when compared to the desperation that poverty can place on a poor family. So girls like Shefali become child brides in exchange for short-term financial gain. And they're often married off to complete strangers.

Shefali desperately wanted to stay in school. She’s smart, articulate, determined, and one day hopes to become a lawyer;

“I want to remove the pain and suffering in my family,” she explains confidently.

Shefali’s father had different plans for his daughter. He is a poor mason and while Shefali’s mother was trying to keep her daughter in school, she simply couldn’t change his mind. The family just didn't have the money.

Child marriage is common in Shefali's village. She's already seen a number of her friends married off and was terribly afraid that the would suffer the same fate. Even her mother was married at a heartbreaking 12 years-old.

So against her will, Shefali was being prepared for early marriage and forced to give up on her life, and her dream of helping others. All hope seemed lost.

But your generous gift saved Shefali from child marriage and completely changed her life!

Because of your scholarship gift, Shefali no longer has to fear getting married. You’ve helped to keep her in school, where she can now concentrate on her studies and chase her dreams without worry or concern.

Your gift has also dramatically helped her family, easing some of the financial burden. But most of all, you've given Shefali the chance to learn her way out of poverty and live her life the way she wants to.

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