This is a story about child marriage in rural Bangladesh. The character of Rita is based on a girl who participated in a Media Action programme and she resembles many others we seek to help. Over 50% of girls in Bangladesh are married before they turn 18.
Rita is 13, clever at school, and keen to attend the local teacher training college, along with many of her friends. This is her first-hand account of how a local boy proposed marriage.
You can find out more about the inspiring and brave work of a youth group, led by a young girl called Chowa, who seek to prevent child marriages for girls like Rita in Bangladesh here.
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Listen: 5 minutes, 5 countries, 5 women
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Rita's story
Bangladesh
This is a story about child marriage in rural Bangladesh. Rita is 13, clever at school, and keen to attend the local teacher training college, along with many of her friends. This is her first-hand account of how a local boy proposed marriage. -
Mariama's story
Sierra Leone
This story is based on a real Media Action listener based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She tells us how she tried to cope by begging on the street and saving cash into a small wooden money box, at the young age of 13 and living with a disability. -
Iryna's story
Ukraine
Iryna’s story is based on the brave people working with Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Media Action’s local media partners in Ukraine. Before the war, she organised media training in Kyiv, commuting in from a little town just outside. She is a wife and mother. -
Jackeline's story
South Sudan
This is based on the true story of two Media Action listeners in South Sudan. Jackeline and her mother, Mama Lia, live in rural Joppa just 15 minutes’ drive from the capital, Juba. Jackeline kept giving birth to girls much to the disappointment of her husband. -
Ujeli's story
Nepal
This is based on the true story of Ujeli. In April 2015 a large earthquake hit her village in the remote mountains of Nepal. When we met her she was living as a displaced person in a nearby village. Ujeli suffers from epilepsy and is vulnerable to child marriage.