A Little Girl and Her Big Story

 

Little did Merriam know about the society she was born in. Her family emigrated from Narmia to Leimax due to the some political reasons. However, she was brought up with the Narmiatic upbringings attitude. As a young daughter of a refugee family, she was supposed to retain her family traditions and follow them as well. It was not until age of the twelve that Merriam encountered some problems related to her family traditions, one of which was early marriage. In her family and surrounding marriage at early age was acceptable so, it was Merriam’s turn to get married after her older sister Sare who had got married to a 40-year-old man at the age of 13, last year. One night while Merriam was looking after her little brother, her mother came in and mentioned about her coming marriage. Even at the age of twelve Merriam was aware of what would store for her. Apart from other girls’ marriage, there was more familiar example in her life, which was her older sister. When she looked back on the day her sister got married, she burst into tears. Her brother-in-law was a wealthy trader, so he gave a considerable amount of money to her father as a davory. Furthermore, it was difficult to her father to make end meets. Therefore, without any hesitation her father let the guy get married to her sister. Her sister Sare was forced to get married. At that night Sare tore up the house, pleaded with her father. Unfortunately, whatever she did was in vain. The little belongings of Sare were rounded up and Sare left the home. That night Merriam not only lost her sister but also her fellow player and she promised herself not to be in same position. She would study at school and became a teacher or a doctor. Once she heard a rumour about the girls who lived in towns that they had chance to go to school and study whatever they want. That time she baffled, because how came a married girl study and take care her house at the same time. This mentality was normal for Merriam, because in her surrounding, girls were supposed to get married, do home duties, and look after the goats, cows. Hence, she imagined a girl in a town in this frame. Later, she understood that the life in town was not as she thought. Thanks to this realization; Merriam got a pipe dream in her early age. But there was an obstacle she had to handle. Two weeks later, while Merriam turning back to the pasture, the goats in tow, the bad news was given that next day she would get married to a 27-years old wealthy farmer. Merriam was terrified by the news and went immediately to see her best friend to share the bad news. However, the coming wedding ceremony of Merriam had been already come out and her friend had known the news she would tell her. They hugged each others and both cried. There should have been a way for Merriam to escape from her fate. Then she come up with the most unfortunate solution which was running away from home but where? Where she would go? How came a girl at her twelve age can handle such a situation she didn’t know. In the end, it occurred to her that she could go no where but town. Meanwhile their conversation was interrupted Merriam’s mother. She told that there were a lot of things to do and then they turned back to home. While they were preparing dinner together, Merriam asked her mother that how old she was when she got married and whether she loved or her father or not. Her mother stopped and didn’t say anything. Merriam felt a little awkward due to the question she asked. Then her mother told her that she didn’t know whether she loved him or not, but she said that she draw her strength from her husband. Also she said to Merriam that she was so little when she got married. Merriam felt that there were no love between her father and mother, yet her mother was thankful to him. Maybe the love between them turned into an unconditional love. That night Merriam was deep in thought and could not sleep. The following day everything was same as usual with the exception of Merriam. She started to focus on her escaping plan. First of all, her best friend Arimea would help her. Merriam didn’t hesitate to sharing her plan with Arimea, because she could count on her every time. The plan was very basic, instead of Merriam, Arimea would wear the wedding costumes, cover her face and stay in the room until somebody came. So, Merriam could set off for her journey to town. The early afternoon Merriam’s future husband and a group of people came. It was not difficult to understand Merriam’s hatred from her face.

No matter what the consequence of her attempt was; she had to get through this situation. Meanwhile, whole the household welcomed Merriam’s future husband and accepted the money that he offered for marriage. Then it was time to introduce Merriam to her future husband. Her mother and Arimea took Merriam a small room to make her dress up. While her mother was preparing her for ceremony, she suddenly burst into tears; her sadness deepened one more time and she left the room. It was a big chance for Merriam to exchange her clothes with Arimea. Afterward they immediately changed their clothes and Merriam left the room. These were happened just within ten minutes. Within ten minutes Merriam’s life was changed. When Merriam was outside, celebration had already been started and hosts had been giving an ovation to the groom. Finally, Merriam was free. However, this freedom made her scared, because she was alone. She would go to the town but she didn’t know how to go. Was it too far? Was it on the East or West? Where exactly it was? She felt herself middle of the nowhere while she was walking through to the hill. She didn’t want to think the possibility of her trick was understood by her mother and father and nothing went wrong and her little plan worked. Otherwise she could have been captured by her family immediately before she arrived to the hill. Actually, it was not until her mother understood their plan when she opened Arimea’s bridal veil. Her mother shouted at Arimea and forced her to reveal their plan. Consequently, the hill would be Merriam’s last destination; Arimea was forced to tell everything. Then a group of villagers and her father set off for finding Merriam. Like Merriam, their first destination was the hill. It didn’t take too much time to find her. Finally she was found while she was sleeping under a tree. Merriam would have untangled her life if she hadn’t captured by her father. In the end, Merriam faced her inevitable fate and got married, like her older sister, her mother or other girls who got married at their early age.

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     Merriam is one of the child brides in the world. When I met her for the first time, I was a freshman and I was doing a research about child brides. For my research I was supposed to interview with a child bride. That time I was in Leimax and nobody wanted to be a volunteer for my research but Merriam. The first question I asked was that how old she was when she got married. Then she replied me ‘’I was given to my husband when I was little. And I don’t even remember when I was given because I was so little. It’s my husband who brought me up.’’ Her answer was enough to explain everything so, there was no need to ask another question. The interview was done!

(I wrote this story in 2012 when I was at prep school for those unfortunate girls.Please do not neglect them… )