Daily wager mother saves her minor daughter from forced marriage

SHIRBERGHAN (Pajhwok): A 40-year-old woman in northern Jawzjan province weaves nets to feed her 12 member family and to save her daughters from forced marriage.

Dozens of poor women in the province are working in a net weaving shop set up by the Children’s Support office.

Nurbigum, 40, said she was able to prevent her seven-year-old daughter from being forced into marriage through her work.

The woman, who lives in Nawabad Turkistan village, is the sole breadwinner of her 12-member family: “My husband does not work. We owed a lot of money two years ago. We married our 9-year-old daughter against 300,000 afghanis to an old man to pay off our debts.”

In response to a question why she did not prevent his little daughter from married? She said “we had no choice, we were in debt, our children were hungry.”

She was saddened by the marriage of her nine-year-old daughter and decided to work to earn a living for her family and prevent her other daughters from forced marriage. Nurbigum said she earned 500 afghanis daily from net weaving.

According to her, her daughter, who married the old man, was not leading a happy and peaceful life and she currently faced many problems. She called on families not to give in mirage their little daughters for financial problems.

Another woman, whose husband was killed by Taliban two years ago, is also weaving net. She told Pajhwok: “My husband was a florist and I still do not know why the Taliban killed him.”

The woman, who worked in people’s homes after the death of her husband to earn a living for her family of four members, said: “We used to have food for one time and led a miserably life but starting work here our situation got better from the past.”

“I earn 500 afghanis a day, which is 15,000 afghanis a month, this amount of money is a good salary and I wish this business continue,” she said.

Mahboba, another net weaving woman, said: “My husband left me five years ago, I have three children and I don’t know where my spouse has gone.”

“Before I started weaving nets, I used to earn money for bread by washing clothes and dishes of people. In many cases, I was abused, but thanks God we got rid of the problems,” he added.

All the three women wished continuation of the net weaving process in Jawzjan province.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmad Shah, head of the children’s protection office in the province, told Pajhwok that about 230 poor women were working in net weaving project in 40 villages in Shiberghan City.

He added: “In this work process, we have hired the poorest women, most of them are unable to provide basic necessities of life to their families.”

Sa/ma

Visits: 32