12-Year-Old Pupil Walks 30Km to Escape Marriage

A pupil in Class Five had to walk for 30km from home to escape a planned early marriage.

The 12-year-old student of Oltinka Primary School in Kajiado West, whose name is omitted for anonymity, was rescued by the PCEA Girls Rescue Centre.

She stated that she was opposed to her mother’s decision of marrying her off at such a tender age and resorted to running away.

The pupil narrated that her sisters also suffered the same fate at the hands of their mother.

“My sisters, who are all young mothers, could not escape the plight of early marriage in our family,” she regretted.

She vowed to break the culture, fight the poverty and raise money for her younger siblings.

After her father died, the cows he left the family as their only hope for livelihood were all killed by drought last year.

“My mother had told me that she will marry me off as a way of seeking property, including cattle, that will enable her to take care of my siblings since we do not have much in our home,” she added.

The rescue centre manager Reverend Charles Maina attested that early marriages were a menace in the area.

“The trend of marrying off young girls and female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kajiado West is coming back. We have rescued 11 girls from December last year,” commented Rev. Maina.