Sierra Leone Child Brides

In a remote corner of Sierra Leone, a man caught a glimpse of 16-year-old Marie Kamara as she ran past his house. Soon after, he proposed to her. “My family does not have money so when he told me he wanted me, I said ‘yes’, said Kamara.

The financial pressure on her family felt more pressing than her wish to continue her education and become a nurse. Her family needed the money. Her stepfather runs a tailoring shop in Komao, but the coronavirus pandemic meant there were few customers. Kamara’s suitor was a miner in his mid-20s. His parents could provide rice for Marie’s four younger sisters and access to their watering hole – and they could pay cash.

The United Nations estimates that hardships resulting from COVID-19 will drive 13 million more girls to marry before the age of 18. In most cases, needy parents receive a dowry for their daughter, a bit of land or livestock that can provide income, or cash and a promise to take over financial responsibility for the young bride.

The girl, in return, takes on the household chores of her husband’s family and often farm work too. In Sierra Leone, the rate of marriage under 18 had dropped from 56% in 2006 to 39% in 2017, a major achievement in the eyes of child protection activists.

Then COVID-19 hit, schools closed in March, and child marriages accelerated. Kadiatu Mansaray, now 15, says her widowed mother pushed her into marriage during the pandemic because of financial hardship and because the teenager’s prospects for a husband already were considered limited as she had gotten pregnant once before at 12: She was crying too hard at the ceremony to see straight.“I was not ready to get married. I wanted to learn something first,” she says. The divorce came as swiftly as the marriage. A month after leaving her husband, Kadiatu’s left eye is still blackened from his last beating. Her offense, he said, was sharing their limited food with others

This story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

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