African women urge church board to action on child marriage issue
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert Kakenya Ntaiya, a native of Kenya, Africa, speaks to board members about defying the cultural practice of child marriage.
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Kakenya
Ntaiya, a native of Kenya, Africa, speaks to board members about
defying the cultural practice of child marriage and about the girls in
her village who have suffered from the custom. In the rural village
where Ntaiya was born, the practice of child marriage is common. She was
engaged at age 5. Ntaiya was one of two young women who spoke to
members of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society during the
agency's spring meeting to appeal for help for women in their home
countries. Their accounts spurred the board to pass a resolution
condemning child marriage. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert. Photo
#06424. Accompanies UMNS story #236. 4/25/06 |
April 25, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
WASHINGTON (UMNS) —
Child marriage, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, illiteracy and poverty are sad
realities for many women in Africa and other developing countries.
Two young women
who have escaped the cycle of poverty and abuse spoke to members of the
United Methodist Board of Church and Society during the agency's spring
meeting to appeal for help for women in their home countries. Their
accounts spurred the board to pass a resolution condemning child
marriage.
Kakenya Ntaiya, a
native of Kenya, Africa, spoke to board members about defying the
cultural practice of child marriage and about the girls in her village
who have suffered from the custom.
In the rural village where Ntaiya was born, the practice of child marriage is common. She was engaged at age 5.
Ntaiya, the oldest
of eight daughters, prayed during her lunch breaks at primary school
because she knew as soon as she reached puberty her father would force
her to be married.
Female
circumcision is also a common practice, and she was scheduled to undergo
the procedure as soon as she finished primary school.
"I asked my dad if
I could wait until after I passed the national exam," she says. He
didn't think there was any chance she would pass the exams because he
knew she had no time to study.
"I prayed and read
my Bible and told God, 'You have said everything is possible so make
this possible.'" She passed the national exam with high scores. Again,
she negotiated with her father to continue her education.
"I made him
promise in public that I could continue my education," she says.
Eventually she finished secondary school, and through a friend, who
attended school in the United States, applied and was accepted at
Randolph Macon College, a United Methodist-related institution in
Ashland, Va. Today she is pursuing a doctorate in education at the
University of Pittsburgh.
She has not
forgotten her village and the childhood friends who have been forced
into marriage and have no hope for a future. She plans to return and
build a girl's boarding school and clinic.
"There is so much
the United Methodist Church can do to help," she says. "Prayers help.
Sponsor a girl to go to school, make connections.
"Imagine your
daughters or other children you know being forced into marriage at 9
years old," she said. "Imagine them pregnant at 12."
Ntaiya also spoke
about the painful subject of obstetric fistula, which happens to many
young women who have children before their bodies are ready. Obstetric
fistula results when a young mother's vagina, bladder and or/rectum tear
during childbirth, a condition that causes urine and feces leakage.
"The mother is
left with a wound," she says. "They start smelling bad, and they are
taken away from the village." The condition can be easily treated and
prevented.
Board issues statement
The board passed a
statement on child marriage, calling upon all United Methodists to
"critically exam our own societies' gender norms and constructions.
United Methodists everywhere must listen and learn from each other."
The statement also calls on the international community to continue working toward gender equality in all realms.
"We especially and
emphatically re-emphasize our call for the United States to ratify the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women.
"The United States
is the only country to have signed CEDAW but refused to ratify it, thus
remaining unaccountable to its agreements. This refusal is incompatible
with Christian teaching that calls us to advocate for the world's most
vulnerable, women and children."
Desperation in Liberia
Chenda Innis, daughter of Bishop John Innis of Liberia, told board members about the oppression of women in her home country.
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A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert Chenda Innis, daughter of Bishop John Innis of Liberia, tells board members about the oppression of women in her home country.
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Chenda
Innis, daughter of Bishop John Innis of Liberia, tells members of the
United Methodist Board of Church and Society about the oppression of
women in her home country. Innis was one of two young women who spoke
during the agency's spring meeting to appeal for help for women in their
home countries. Their accounts spurred the board to pass a resolution
condemning child marriage. A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert. Photo
#06423. Accompanies UMNS story #236. 4/25/06
|
Prostitution among teenage girls is high, she said, because of the lack of other means for women to earn a living.
"Young ladies flood the airport to trade sex for $20," she said. "$20."
"It is saddening and heartbreaking," she continued. "Such beautiful young women have to resort to such things to survive."
Innis and her
family escaped from Liberia when she was 16 years old, and she has not
returned since. She plans to go back home once she has earned a master's
of divinity and theological studies degree at Wesley Theological
School, a United Methodist seminary in Washington.
The election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has brought hope to Liberia, Innis says.
"Through the
years, everything has been male dominated, but thanks be to God, things
are taking a drastic turn now that we have a woman president."
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Audio Interviews
Kakenya Ntaiya "I want to go back home."
Chenda Innis "It was constant fear."
Chenda Innis "Liberia is my home."
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