Before reading this article, please click "Follow", which is convenient for you to discuss and share, and can bring you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support.
In these times of challenges and tribulations, Kenya is experiencing a series of unbearable disasters: pandemics, droughts, locust plagues, famine, inflation, which are surging at the same time, profoundly changing everyone's destiny.
For 12-year-old Amira, she may not be able to understand these complex issues, but she feels a pain in the chaos of this world that cannot be ignored. She may not understand how Kenya is changing, but she knows her belly has always been empty. For the past few months, she has been living next to hunger.
On that day, with great anticipation, she boarded the bus with her relatives and set off on her journey to the event. However, she did not know that this so-called "brother's wedding" was actually just a hoax, and the real protagonist was 12-year-old Amira. The 70-year-old became the manipulator behind the whole situation, and the arrangement of fate seemed to be the best for the Amira family.
In this family, the mother's cancer death last year left the father to raise three children alone. Amira is the youngest and only girl of them. The father's meagre income barely supported the family, but in the face of drought and poverty, the family's financial pressure became unbearable. The drought killed most of her family's livestock, leaving the few remaining cows at risk.
However, she was lucky. At the next stop of the bus, her brother and police arrived to stop the wedding. Although Amira's fate was changed, there were still many girls like Amira who were not saved.
In fact, Kenya has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1990, which explicitly prohibits child marriage. However, reality tells us that the problem has never really disappeared. In Kenya, undermarriageable girls, like Amira, are threatened by child marriage as their families desperately trade their "husbands" for the resources they need to survive.
However, this phenomenon is rooted in Kenya's traditional perception of girls as "family property" and are often seen as the "best option" when the family is facing financial difficulties. However, under the influence of epidemics, wars, locust plagues, drought and other factors, more and more Kenyan families have fallen into famine caused by "economic hardship".
Drought has been a long-standing challenge for Kenyans, but years of inadequate rainfall across the country since 2016 have made drought a problem even more serious and even a matter of life and death. 15 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have been affected by severe drought
The drought has led to agricultural hardship in Kenya, but even worse is the locust plague that has ravaged East Africa for several years. The locust plague is the worst in Kenya in 70 years, with tens of billions of locusts infesting the country, destroying crops and exacerbating the famine. In September 2021, 2.1 million people at risk of hunger in Kenya rose to 2.8 million in March. According to the General Administration of Drought Control, there are as many as 600,000 severely malnourished children nationwide.
At the same time, however, Amira's fate changed. During the crisis in which she was forcibly arranged to marry a 70-year-old, the intervention of her brother and the police temporarily saved her from the disaster. Amira is temporarily living in a government-run children's rescue center, waiting to return home. She expressed a desire to learn and become a doctor, however, returning to her family is not a simple matter. Despite being temporarily freed from the trap of marriage, the financial difficulties of Amira's family remain unresolved, and the problem of famine still plagues them.
I couldn't help but wonder, in the face of so many difficulties and challenges, how can Kenyan children get out of this difficult situation and pursue their dreams? I firmly believe that a better future for these children can be created only through the cooperation of the international community and the joint efforts of Governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society. Let them enjoy their right to education, away from the shadow of child marriage, from famine and drought, and realize their dreams. It is our common responsibility and mission that every child should have a free, safe and dignified upbringing. Only then will we be able to witness the smiles of children in Kenya and see them gradually move towards a bright future.
Due to the rules of the platform, you will only be recognized as a fan if you have more interaction with me. If you like my article, you can click "Follow", and you can receive the article push as soon as you become an iron fan. This article is only published in today's headlines, please do not move.