No snark this morning. Just sadness.
Below is a video of a little girl from Yemen named Nada Al-Ahdal, who threatens to commit suicide if her parents force her to get married. Yeah, seriously.
“What about the innocence of childhood,” she asks, as my heart sinks into my stomach. “I would have no life, no education. Don’t they have any compassion?” She says. It’s heavy stuff. And then it gets worse.
She recounts the story of an aunt who was forced to get married at 14, and ended up with a drunken, abusive husband. Her aunt ended up setting herself on fire to avoid staying in that situation. This is obviously a huge, horrifying issue, and young Nada, who is clearly very intelligent and deserves a bright future, is using this platform to create her own public service announcement about it. What an amazingly brave child.
Luckily she’s now able to stay with her uncle, with the blessing of her parents, and can hopefully move on with her life.
For once I’m going to keep my commentary to a bare minimum, but I urge you to watch the video. Feel free to send your opinions in the comment section, and treat yourselves to some cute baby animal photos after, because I know this isn’t the cheeriest way to start the work week.
