Deep poverty means that Afghan parents choose to sell their daughters. – I cry daily because we sold them, says a woman. The youngest was only 18 months.
Fahimas says that her husband has entered into an agreement to sell their two young daughters for a future marriage.
– My husband said that if we do not send our daughters away, we will all die because we have nothing to eat, says a deeply despairing Fahima.
– I feel terribly bad about sending my daughters away for money, Fahima says.
Unaware of the agreement, six-year-old Faristeh and 18-month-old Shokriya sit next to her in a room built of stones and tarpaulins. The family lives in a makeshift camp near the town of Qala-i-Naw in Badghis province set up for people displaced from their homes.
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For the six-year-old girl, they received a bridal price of 3,350 dollars (approx. 28,000 kroner). For the youngest girl, they received 2,800 dollars (approx. 23,500 kroner). The payment will be made in installments over several years – pending them being ready to start a family. Their future husbands are also still minors.
Thousands starve
Her family is not alone in making the terrible choice. Thousands of Afghan families are experiencing drought and deep distress – and do not know their poor advice on how to survive.
The northwestern province of Badghis is one of the regions worst affected by drought and famine.
Many farmers who have lost their crops here have been forced to leave their homes.
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Traditions for child marriage
Child marriage has been practiced in Afghanistan for centuries.
Today, it is acts of war and climate-related poverty that drive many families to enter into agreements about future brides – agreements that are entered into earlier and earlier in the girls’ lives.
Maulvi Abdul Sattar is the Taliban governor of Badghis province. He says that child marriages are due to financial problems.
– The marriages are not a result of new laws or sharia, he emphasizes.
The World Food Program (WFP) recently warned that more than half of Afghanistan’s population will face acute food insecurity from November. This means that 22.8 million people will not be sure that they get food every day.
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Can make bargains
Parents of boys can take advantage of the need and make “bargains” and secure young girls – for installments over a longer period of time.
In the makeshift camps with displaced persons, it was easy for the journalists from the news agency AFP to find a dozen families who have felt compelled to sell their daughters for marriage.
Village leaders say that the number of little girls who were promised away for money rose during the famine in 2018. After the rain failed and the drought set in this year, the number increased again.
Food debt
Debt led to 25-year-old Sabehreh also being forced to sell his daughter.
Sabehreh had had to provide food for the family, but paid on the credit.
The owner of the grocery store threatened with imprisonment if they did not pay him back.
To cover the debt, the family agreed with the merchant that their three-year-old daughter Zakereh should be engaged to the merchant’s four-year-old son Zabiuallah. The merchant must wait to take responsibility for the girl until she grows up. But both the little girl and the little boy have already had their fate sealed.
– I am not happy to have entered into the agreement, but we had no choice. We had nothing to eat or drink, says Sabehreh.
– And if this situation continues, we must also give up our three-month-old daughter, she says as she cradles the sleeping infant. The winter cold has already begun to penetrate the windswept, gloomy camp.
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Many stories
Another neighbor, Gul Bibi, confirms that she and several other families in the camp have had to resort to child marriage.
Her own daughter, Asho, aged eight or nine, is all engaged to a 23-year-old man. Debt was also the reason for the trade.
The man to whom the daughter was sold is currently in Iran. She dreads the day he returns.
“We know it’s not right, but we have no choice,” said passer-by Hayatullah, who overheard his mother’s sad story.
The daughters live far away
In another temporary camp in the area, Mohammad Assan wipes his tears when he shows pictures of his girls, Siana at nine and Edi Gul at six. Both now live with their young grooms – far away.
– We have not seen them since they left. We did not want to make an agreement about them, but we had to provide food for our other children, he says.
Like many others, Assan and his family sought refuge in Qala-i-Naw due to the fighting that raged in the area before the Taliban came to power.
– My daughters are probably better now, with food to eat, he hopes. He shows some crusty crusts of bread the neighbors have saved for him.
Assan’s wife Dad Gul is ill and addicted to medication. Assan therefore owes money for medicines he has obtained for his wife, but he does not have enough money. He has therefore started looking for a suitor for his remaining, four-year-old daughter.
– Some days I go crazy with grief, says Dad Gul. I can leave the tent, but have no idea where I am going, she says.
Restless waiting time and grief
The mothers’ grief is great. First, they have to make the difficult decision to negotiate their child away. Then there may be a restless wait of several months or years before the trade is initiated. Then comes the real pain when the daughter has left.
Rabia is a 43 year old widow. She has done everything she can to postpone that fateful day.
Her daughter, Habibeh, has turned 12 years old. A month ago, she should have joined her future spouse’s family. But Habibeh begged the family to have another year with her daughter.
And the daughter is clear on what she wants. – I want to stay with my mother, whispers the skinny girl.
Rabia would have repaid the 550 dollars (about 4,600 kroner) she received for Habibeh – if she could afford to feed the rest of the family.
Save the sons
– As a mother, my heart is broken, but I have to save my sons, she explains.
Her 11-year-old son earns 50 øre a day at the job of a baker. Her nine-year-old picks up rubbish for 30 øre. The children are black with dirt, and the family lives in a ragged tent.
The winter will undoubtedly be very harsh.
Trying to help
The camp elder, Abdul Rahmin Akbar, does what he can to help his neighbors avoid having to make the terrible choice. He distributes a small ration of bread to the poorest families.
He has seen many fathers, including his own brother, sell their daughters.
He has also sought out the area’s new Taliban authorities in an attempt to get help from them.
Several areas
The number of child marriages is also growing in areas outside of drought-stricken Badghis.
In Herat, the country’s third largest city, fathers must harden their hearts.
– I sold my ten year old daughter. I would never have done it if I could have avoided it, says farmer Allahudin, who has no land to cultivate.
He admits that he will also sell his five-year-old daughter – if he finds a buyer.
Great shame
Behind the often short and abrupt comments of the mothers and fathers, there is great sorrow and shame that they are unable to provide for their families and keep them together.
– I know very well that it is not a good solution, says Baz Mohammad.
– But I thought we were all going to die, he says.
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