Article written by Chukwudi Iwuchukwu. Read below...
Just a few days after celebrating ##DayOfTheGirl , a day set aside to
celebrate the girl child, Hadiza's story hit us “like a thunderbolt.
Hear her in her own words
“When I was sixteen years old, my father married me off to an old
man,” she explains, the memories of her harrowing experience still raw.
"I want to go to school; I want to study Accountancy but my husband
refused instead, he was maltreating me. I could not take it longer,
that is why I ran away from his house "
Hear
Hadiza story as narrated by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, the founder and
Executive director of Project Alert( A Lagos based NGO pictured above with Hadiza)
My
daughter Hadiza and I. When I founded Project Alert on Violence Against
Women 16 years ago, I didn't know God will bless me with so many
daughters. Daughters that society using culture and manipulating
religion etc would want to stifle their destinies. I am indeed blessed
with beautiful and brilliant daughters destined for greatness. Hadiza is
one of them. A brilliant young girl who wants to study
Accountancy. Forced into an early marriage last year which she
reluctantly went into to please her parents, she ran to Project Alert
two weeks ago when she couldn't take it any longer as the man was even
maltreating her.
We called her family in and after series of
discussions with her father who at the end of the day saw reason; and
the young man whom we threatened with legal actions for battering and
assault, he agreed to divorce her. This he did immediately and you ought
to see the smile on my daughter's face. I took Hadiza back home on
Friday last week to a grateful father, happy mother; and joyous
siblings.
Hadiza will marry no doubt but she will marry
someone who will respect and not maltreat her. For now her father has
promised to enrol her for lessons to take JAMB next year. This is a
Minister of Finance or an Accountant General in the making"
She concluded
(First photo is Hadiza, Nsini Udonta, a staff of Project alert & Mrs . Josephine Effah-Chukwuma)
Barrister Chukwudi Iwuchukwu Is A PR Executive and Social Media Consultant To Project Alert. He Is On Twitter @Chukwudi1985
ads
No comments:
Post a Comment