HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – In Zimbabwe, where girls up to the age of 10 are forced to marry because of poverty or traditional and religious practices, a teenage taekwondo enthusiast uses the sport to give girls in a poor community a chance to fight for life.
“There aren’t many people doing taekwondo here, so it’s fascinating for girls, both married and single. I use it to get their attention, ”said 17-year-old Natsiraishe Maritsa, a 5-year-old martial arts fan who now uses taekwondo to gather girls and young mothers to join hands and fight. against child marriage.
Four-year-old children and some of Natsiraishe’s former schoolmates, who are now married, line up in the small, dusty courtyard in front of her parents’ house in the poor Epworth settlement, about 15 kilometers southeast of the capital. Harare.
They enthusiastically follow his instructions to lie down, kick, hit, punch and shoot. After class, I talk about the dangers of child marriage. Holding their babies, the newlyweds took the lead.
One by one, they recounted how their marriages turned into slavery, including verbal and physical abuse, marital rape, pregnancy-related health complications, and starvation.
“We are not prepared for this so-called marriage. We are too young for that, “Maritsa told the Associated Press after the session, which she said was” a safe place “for girls to share ideas.
“The role of teenage mothers is usually ignored when people campaign against child marriages. Here, they use their voices, their challenges, to discourage young girls who have not yet been married to stay out of early sexual activity and marriage, ”said Maritsa.
Neither boys nor girls can legally marry until the age of 18, according to Zimbabwean law passed after the Constitutional Court overturned previous legislation in 2016 that allowed girls to marry at 16 years old.
However, the practice remains widespread in the economically struggling southern African country, where about 30 percent of girls are married before the age of 18, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Child marriage is widespread across Africa and rising poverty amid the COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressure on families to marry their young daughters.
For some poor families in Zimbabwe, marrying a young daughter is a lesser burden, and the bride’s price paid by her husband is often “used by families as a means of survival,” according to Girls Not Brides, an organization that advocates for ending marriages. children.
Some religious sects encourage girls up to the age of 10 to marry much older men for “spiritual guidance,” while some families, in order to avoid “shame,” force girls who engage in sexual intercourse before marriage to marry their friends, according to the organization.
Maritsa, through her association called Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium, hopes to increase the confidence of both married and single girls through the martial arts lessons and discussions that follow.
Zimbabwe’s ban on public assemblies imposed as part of strict blockade measures last week to try to slow an unprecedented rise in new COVID-19 infections has forced Maritsa to suspend sessions, but hopes to resume as soon as it closes. blocking.
“Out of hopelessness, young mothers feel empowered … being able to use their stories to discourage other girls from falling into the same trap,” said Maritsa, who said she started the project in 2018 after -see his girlfriends leaving school for marriage. .
Some, such as her best friend, 21-year-old Pruzmay Mandaza, now plan to return to school, although her husband forced her to step down as vice president of the association and stopped her from attending. to taekwondo training.
Inside the beautifully decorated cottage, adorned with Maritsa medals and images, her parents prepare fruit juices and some cookies for the girls – their sacrifice to help their daughter’s efforts.
“I can only take 15 people per session, because the only support I receive is from my parents,” Maritsa said. “My father is a small-scale farmer, my mother is a full-time housewife, but she sacrifices the little they have in what I want to achieve,” she said. “He’s my jogging partner,” she added, referring to her father.
Taekwondo is not very popular in Zimbabwe, crazy about football, but there are pockets of vocational schools and courts.
Despite her limited resources, Maritsa is dedicated to her mission.
Early marriages could increase as COVID-19 keeps children away from school and deepens poverty, women’s groups warn.
Even some of those who attend Maritsa’s home sessions seem to have different priorities.
“We need to know how to keep our husbands happy, that’s what’s important,” said Privilege Chimombe, a 17-year-old mother who had her first child at age 13 and was abandoned by her husband after a recent session.
“These are the perceptions we have to fight,” Maritsa replied. “It’s hard, but it has to be done.”