Nurame was in her bed when she was woken by an angry mêlée. In her family's hut there were grown men – an incredible number, 10 or more, all in their 30s, all standing over her father, shouting. They reached for her... She had heard whispers that, when a girl is considered ready for marriage, a man will seize her, and rape her, and then she must serve him for the rest of her life. "That was the culture," she says. But it wasn't her culture: like all the other little girls, she didn't want it. "I started screaming and tried to run out of the hut," she says... She was taken back to his home, held down in front of his family, raped, and taken to be married the next morning.
...In Ethiopia, Nurame's story happens every day. In 2003 – the last year for which statistics are available – the National Committee on Traditional Practices of Ethiopia found that 69 per cent of marriages begin like this, with the triple-whammy of abduction, rape, and a forced signature. The article goes on to explain how one brave woman from Ethiopia, Boge Gebre, is working tirelessly to change mindsets, instill justice, and empower women. Her organization is Kembatta Women Standing Together (KMG), and its efforts have "slashed the rate of bridal abductions by more than 90 percent" in the Kembatta area. Just by holding forums where men and women sit together as equals and raise their concerns, the organization is radically altering the culture there. It's truly an amazing story of accelerated change -- literally over the course of a generation in some areas -- but the road to widespread justice and equality is still a long and hard one. Awareness is just the beginning.
Young girls in Hobich-Haka display bold placards at a KMG workshop declaring their refusal to be cut.
(If interested in supporting KMG, the UK's Sport Relief foundation is collecting donations, or you can contact KMG directly.)
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