FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, 21 December 2022: “My mother became a housewife as a teenager but that is not something I should go through. We cannot follow the path our parents have gone through,” says 20-year-old Marie Tholley, volunteering with Restless Development to end child marriage in Koinadugu district in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is one of 12 countries implementing the Global Programme to End Child Marriage with support from UNFPA and UNICEF.

Marie’s story: As a child, Marie’s aspiration was to become a lawyer, given her speaking skills/abilities in school debates. However, in 2012, when she turned 10, her dream of being educated almost got shattered when her father secretly started arranging her traditional wedding.

Born in a polygamous home of over 24 children, Marie, the third of her mother’s four children, said her parents could not afford to pay her school fees. “Unfortunately, my father never believed in sending girls to school. In his view, no matter how educated a girl child gets, she would end up as a housewife,” she recalls. 

Escaping child marriage: In her village in the Tonkolili district, Marie explains that, if a man identifies a girl that he intends to marry, the arrangement is formalized and settled through cash donations to the girl’s family. “The man who had secretly proposed to marry me had been giving money to my father, without my mother’s knowledge; and my mother did not even support the idea of me getting married. One day at home, I overheard my parents discussing the issue in their bedroom and my mother was literally in tears.”

Knowing that she was about to be married off to a man at age 10, she fled to Makeni City in the Bombali district, where she stayed with her aunt, who aided her escape. Marie’s aunt was also not happy with the decision to marry her off to a man at an early age. “My aunty who had knowledge of my father’s plan, once attempted to take me away from my parents but my father never allowed that. So when I finally knew of the plans to give me as a wife at that age, my aunty facilitated my escape to Makeni to stay with her,” Marie narrates. In Makeni, her aunty provided her shelter and supported Marie in continuing with her schooling.

This year, Marie gained admission to the University of Makeni to pursue a Diploma in Development Studies, something that she says gives her hope for a better future.

Inspired by her past: Marie’s experience is one shared by many of her peers in Sierra Leone which has one of the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy in the world, with 21 per cent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 having begun child bearing. Girls also face an increased risk of death as a result of complications from pregnancy and child birth, accounting for an estimated 40 per cent of maternal mortality in Sierra Leone, according to the country’s Demographic and Health Survey of 2019.

Reflecting on this reality, Marie says she remains motivated to never give up on her hopes and plans for her future. “Escaping child marriage inspired me a lot. It helped me to see the importance of educating communities and young people about the benefits of allowing girls to pursue an education. This was what motivated me to volunteer with Restless Development, to help empower young girls and advocate for their education.”

Today, through her work with Restless Development supported by the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Ending Child Marriage, Marie is proud of the impact she and other volunteers are making in the lives of young girls in Koinadugu district.

Lessons learnt: Looking back, Marie says that if she had not escaped, her story would have been that of a housewife who may not have survived childbirth, if she had become pregnant at a young age.

“When a girl is educated, she becomes an asset to society, she contributes to national development. If society refuses to talk about child marriage, we cannot prevent/stop it. We therefore have a responsibility to change the mindset of giving adolescent girls as wives. Rather, they should be empowered with the right information to make decisions that enable them to achieve their full potential.”

Media Contacts:

John Baimba Sesay | Web and Media Analyst | UNFPA Sierra Leone | Tel. +232 30953193 | e-mail: jsesay@unfpa.org