VOA慢速英语--津巴布韦17岁女生通过教导女孩们跆拳道来反对童婚

Zimbabwean Girl Uses Martial¹ Arts to Warn Against Child Marriage

In Zimbabwe, some girls are forced to marry as young as the age of 10 because of poverty or for traditional or religious reasons.

One Zimbabwean teenager is using the sport of taekwondo to give girls from a poor community a fighting chance to have a better life. Natsiraishe Maritsa has been a fan of taekwondo since she was very young. Taekwondo is a Korean martial art.

Today, the 17-year-old holds taekwondo lessons outside her parents' home in the poor settlement of Epworth. The area is about 15 kilometers south of the capital, Harare.

"Not many people do taekwondo here, so it's fascinating for the girls, both married and single," Maritsa said. "I use it to get their attention." Children as young as four follow her instructions to stretch, kick, strike and punch. After class, the group talks about the risks of child marriage.

Newly married girls led one recent discussion. One by one, they describe extreme abuse they have experienced in their marriages. They describe being raped² and being hungry.

"We are not ready for this thing called marriage. We are just too young for it," Maritsa told The Associated Press. She described her small group as "a safe space" for the girls to share ideas.

"I use their voices, their challenges, to discourage those young girls not yet married to stay off early sexual activity and marriage," Maritsa said.

Zimbabwe law says boys and girls cannot legally marry until they reach the age of 18. That law was passed in 2016. Child marriage, however, is widespread in the southern African nation.

For some poor families, the reason is an economic one. Marrying off a young daughter means fewer costs. The rights group Girls Not Brides says the bride price paid by husbands of these girls is "used by families as a means of survival."

An estimated 30 percent of girls in Zimbabwe are married before they reach 18, the United Nations Children's Fund says. Rising poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressures on families around the world to marry off their young daughters.

Maritsa's group is called Vulnerable Underaged People's Auditorium³. She started the project in 2018 after seeing her friends leave school for marriage. She hopes to increase the confidence of both married and unmarried girls through the martial arts lessons and discussions.

She accepts 15 students in each lesson, she said. "The only support I get is from my parents." After class, her parents usually provide fresh juice and sweets.

Zimbabwe recently announced a ban on public gatherings⁴. The measure is meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The ban has forced Maritsa to suspend her lessons, but she hopes to restart as soon as the country's lockdown is lifted.

Maritsa said, "From being hopeless, the young mothers feel empowered...being able to use their stories to dissuade⁵ other girls from falling into the same trap."

Words in This Story

martial art –n. one of several forms of fighting and self-defense that are widely practiced as a sport

lesson –n. something learned from experience

fascinating –adj. very interesting or appealing

punch –v. to strike with a closed hand

challenge –n. a difficult task or problem

confidence –n. a feeling of belief that you can do something

lockdown –n. an emergency situation in which people are not permitted to move around freely

dissuade –v. to persuade someone not to do something

1 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

2 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

3 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

4 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

5 dissuade   

v.劝阻，阻止

参考例句：

• You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
• I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。