VOA慢速英语--把女儿嫁出去是为了缓解新冠疫情带来的经济问题

The man first saw Marie Kamara as she ran with her friends past his house in a small village in Sierra Leone. Soon after, he asked the fifth-grade girl to marry him. No, she told him, adding "I'm going to school now."

But the financial pressures caused by the coronavirus crisis¹ were greater than her wishes. Marie's family needed money.

The man had a job and money. He paid Marie's family 500,000 leones (about $50) to marry Marie.

"The day they paid for me was on a Friday, and then I went to his house to stay," Marie said. She added that at least now she gets to eat something two times a day.

In recent years, many countries had made progress against marriages of underage girls. But COVID-19 has made much of that progress disappear. The United Nations estimates² that economic problems resulting from COVID-19 will drive 13 million more girls to marry before the age of 18.

South Asia

India's government put in place a nationwide lockdown in late March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The restrictions³ caused millions of poor migrants to lose their jobs in cities. Many returned to the villages they had left in search of work. With schools closed and financial pressures rising, marrying off young girls became a way for families to reduce costs.

The organization ChildLine India recorded 5,214 early marriages in just four months of lockdown between March and June of this year. The actual number is likely much higher, the organization notes.

In Bangladesh, child protection officials said they received a phone call back in June warning that a child marriage was to take place within the hour. After arriving to stop the marriage, officials got the girl's family to agree to cancel the ceremony.

The officials left, and the family held the wedding anyway.

‘One less person to feed'

In Sierra Leone, the rate of marriage under 18 had dropped from 56 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2017. Then COVID-19 hit. Schools closed in March. After that, child marriages rose as village girls going to school in nearby towns returned home to their parents.

Isata Dumbaya directs reproductive and maternal⁴ health for Partners in Health Sierra Leone.

"When you marry, your father is no longer responsible for feeding you, for paying your fees or doing anything else for you," she said. "And if you come from a house with a lot of other children, indeed, this is one less person (to feed)," she added.

Many of the girls' mothers got married as young girls too, said Dumbaya. So the mothers see early marriage as normal. "They do not see it as harming their children," Dumbaya said.

Sierra Leone's first lady, Fatima Maada Bio, understands the problem well. Bio escaped to Britain as a teenager after learning⁵ her father was planning to force her to marry.

She has been working to end child marriage with her "Hands Off Our Girls" campaign since her husband took office in 2018.

"Early marriage in all forms is legalized rape," she recently told The Associated Press.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the campaign has had to reduce many of its outreach efforts. This means fewer face-to-face meetings with Sierra Leone's traditional leaders, some of whom govern areas of the country so distant they lack an FM radio signal.

Many rural⁶ areas in Sierra Leone do not have secondary⁷ schools. So, teenage girls often move to distant towns to continue their education. They usually live with a relative.

Teenager Mariama Conteh left her village this year to live with an aunt and attend school. Soon after, a 28-year-old man said he wanted to marry her.

It took a month for Mariama to agree. Her aunt had threatened her, saying if she refused the man, she would have to go home. There, her father was struggling to feed two wives and 10 other children.

She cries when she thinks of the education she lost.

"It is what it is," said Mariama, who is now seven months pregnant⁸. "It has happened."

Words in This Story

maternal - adj. of or relating to a woman who is having a baby

lockdown - n. a requirement for people to stay where they are (i.e. at home) because of risks to the greater population

secondary - adj. of or relating to education of students who have completed primary school

1 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

2 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

5 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

6 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

7 secondary   

adj.中级的，中等的，次要的；n.次要位置，副手

参考例句：

• It's a question of secondary importance.这是个次要的问题。
• Secondary school means junior school and high school.中学是指初中和高中。

8 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。