This Photo Series Empowers Child Marriage Survivors In Kenya

In Nigeria, a study by UNICEF shows that 43% of girls are married before they turn 18, and the constitution allows this as it does not establish a minimum age of the marriage. This injustice is rampant over the world, which led photographer Stephanie Sinclair to start up Too Young To Wed.

Too Young To Wed is an NGO which partners with local nonprofits all around the world with the aim of alleviating the human rights challenges faced by girls globally. The ultimate aim is to provide a better life for these young survivors by giving them literary classes and means to develop skills.

Their most recent project was in Samburu, Kenya in partnership with The Samburu Girls Foundation. They helped provide previous child brides with new opportunities including scholarships, and access to female empowerment photography workshops called the Tehani Photo Workshop. 

The workshop is named after Tehani, an eight-year-old child bride in Yemen who was unable to escape her marriage. This year, 18 Kenyan teen girls who escaped their marriages were brought together for the workshop in Kenya. 

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Photo by @stephsinclairpix // Fifteen-year-old child marriage survivors Anita and Rosilla participate in @tooyoungtowed’s Tehani Photo Workshop — named after an 8-year-old Yemeni bride — in partnership with the @samburugirlsfdn. The five-day workshop brought together 18 brave girls to not only help them gain the skills to become budding photojournalists, but learn tools to manage their trauma, express themselves, advocate for the rights of girls’ and become mentors to subsequent workshop participants. “When I was ten, my father married me off,” Anita said. “I would like to say to the parents they should educate all the children. They should not discriminate between a boy and girl because boys and girls are equal.” For a LIMITED TIME ONLY you can visit www.tooyoungtowed.org/printsale to purchase one of the girls’ prints (as well as one of my own) to support our future workshops. . Through Nov. 26, you can see their images in person at the @worldpressphoto exhibition at the DuPont Underground in Washington D.C. @canonusa #protectgirlsrights #endchildmarriage #tooyoungotwed #printsale #canoncps #canonexploreroflight

A post shared by Too Young to Wed (@tooyoungtowed) on Nov 7, 2017 at 12:44pm PST

Read more here http://www.konbini.com/ng/lifestyle/photo-series-empowers-survivors-child-marriage-kenya/