NIGERIAN GIRL AMONG THOUSANDS OF DIVORCED CHILDREN. KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — By the time she ran away, Maimuna bore the scars of a short but brutal marriage. Her battered face swelled so much that doctors feared her husband had dislocated her jaw. Her back and arms bristled with angry welts from the whipping her father gave her for fleeing to him. She was gaunt from hunger, dressed in filthy rags. And barely a year after her wedding, she was divorced. It would be a tragic story for a woman of any age. But for Maimuna Abdullahi, it all happened by the time she was 14. Im too scared to go back home, she whispers, a frown crinkling her brow as she fiddles nervously with her hands. I know they will force me to go back to my husband. Maimuna is one of thousands of divorced girls in Nigeria, children who were forced into marriage and have since run away or been thrown out by their husbands. They are victims of a belief that girls should get wed rather than educated, which drew the worlds attention after Boko Haram terrorists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls two months ago and threatened to marry them off. Most are still missing. Maimunas former husband, Mahammadu Saidu, blames her few years of school for her disobedience. A handsome man of 28 who is obviously proud of his ankle-high boots, he does not deny beating his wife https://uk.news.yahoo/nigeria-girl-among-thousands-divorced-children-155410912.html#Lc6Oqd7
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 18:31:35 +0000
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