2007年VOA标准英语-Senegalese Villages Fight Against Forced Child

By Phuong Tran
Katote, Senegal
13 March 2007

In parts of rural Africa, some parents force their daughters to marry as young as eight-years-old. This is so there is no chance the girls can get pregnant before marriage, and ruin the families' honor. Other times, it is to secure the bond between two families. Though illegal, this practice is hard to prosecute¹ because the families often live in remote areas far from any courts of justice. But a number of village leaders in West Africa are working to end this tradition with the help of women who were forced to marry young. Phuong Tran has this report from border villages in Senegal near the Mauritanian border.

Katote is a desert village between the town of Ourossogui, Senegal and the border of Mauritania. The only way to reach it is a sharp left turn from the main paved road onto sand sparsely² dotted for kilometers with cactus³ plants, faint tire tracks, and the occasional school child hiking to a classroom in a different village.

 
Aissate Ndiaye Camara
This is where the almost 40-year-old Aissate Ndiaye Camara lives. It was here that her parents introduced her to the man who they said was her husband when she was eight-years-old.

Speaking in her native language of Pular, Camara said she had no idea she was being married to her older cousin. She says she was scared and hid from him for days by sleeping out in the livestock⁴ shed with the animals.

Her parents threatened bad spirits would find her if she did not return to her speak with her new husband.

In the mostly Pular community of northeast Senegal, the tradition is for the child bride to live with her husband's mother so she can learn how to become a proper wife. During this time, the new groom⁵ travels, coming back only when his bride is ready to have children.

For Camara, her husband came back 12 years later when she was almost 20.

They now have seven children.

Even though she says she loves her husband and long ago stopped being afraid of him, she does not want other girls to go through the fear, shock and discomfort⁶ she says she felt for years.

Camara works with the human rights organization Tostan to educate families about the dangers of forcing children, and especially girls, to marry young.

Its director in the area of Katote is Abou Amel Camara. Abou Camara says families do not know they can risk their daughter's life by forcing them to marry. He says the young brides often have problems, and even die in childbirth. He says some become pregnant as soon as they reach puberty.

Tostan's regional director says village leaders have helped change attitudes about a practice few really questioned until recent years.

 
Samba Demba Sall
Ten kilometers from Katote is Samba Demba Sall, the village chief of Sedo Abass. He says when women started speaking to him about the trauma⁷ they felt when married young, he felt a responsibility as guardian⁸ of his village.

The village chief led a public ceremony in his village four years ago officially denouncing child marriage. If he hears about a family who is about to marry their child, he meets with them, bringing along a woman who was forced to marry young to talk to the family.

The legal marriage age in Senegal is 18. Many, however, routinely marry younger in this primarily Muslim country where 16 is an accepted age of womanhood.

1 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

2 sparsely   

adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地

参考例句：

• Relative to the size, the city is sparsely populated. 与其面积相比，这个城市的人口是稀少的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The ground was sparsely covered with grass. 地面上稀疏地覆盖草丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

6 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

7 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

8 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。