by Mary Kate MacIsaac

While some 11-year old girls dream of their future weddings, few expect to be sold into marriage while still in primary school.

In Afghanistan, in the onslaught of serious drought and a global food crisis, families are resorting to desperate measures, selling daughters as young as seven to ease their debt and pay for food.

“We had to sell Fatima”
Fatima* is only eleven. She is in grade 3. Her favorite class is Dari, her mother tongue. In the presence of guests, she is a shy and quiet child. Grasping her headscarf to her mouth, she lowers her eyes whenever she is addressed.

“I like school,” she says almost in a whisper. “I am a good student. One day, I would like to be a doctor.”

But it’s unlikely that Fatima will achieve her dream. Recently, her father engaged her to a local man in exchange for 300,000 Afghanis, the equivalent of $6,000.

“We had to do this,” says 35-year-old Sausan*, Fatima’s mother. Showing little emotion, her placid expression is not a sign of carelessness but of weariness. She recently gave birth to her seventh child and is suffering from anemia, as a result of nutritional deficiency and blood loss.

“We have no money,” she explains. “How can nine of us eat on two, maybe three dollars a day, with all the other expenses? We had to sell Fatima in order to pay all the people we owed.”

Families across Afghanistan are buckling under the double blows of both a global food shortage and severe drought. The underserved provinces of Badghis and Ghor are particularly hard hit.

The people here are in desperate need.

Effects of Food Crisis
The main staple for most Afghans is wheat flour, used in making bread.

One year ago, the price of an eight-kilogram bag of wheat flour was 80 Afghani. Today in Badghis, it’s 400 Afghani. As wheat prices skyrocket and fodder disappears, animals are being sold to subsidize family incomes.

Fatima’s family does not have any land or livestock to sell. Half of their monthly income covers rent for the small two-room mud house they share. What remains is not enough for wheat flour. Fatima is among the last of their “assets”.

“I wish we had a developed country.”
While Sausan speaks, Fatima sits quietly by the window. She is as expressionless as her mother.

Sausan says that Fatima won’t be forced to marry immediately. She can live at home and continue school for four more years. “In the agreement, we said she must.”

“All I ever dreamed of having was a good house, enough food and a healthy family—a peaceful country, too, where my children could get an education,” says Sausan.

Fatima shares much of her mother’s dream. “I wish we had a developed country. One that was peaceful and green.”

What World Vision Is Doing
In an effort to keep Afghan families from having to sell their daughters into engagement, World Vision is preparing to provide food rations to the most desperate families in Badghis and Ghor provinces.

To prevent the depletion of herds, a source of income for families, animal fodder will be provided to families with livestock. Agriculture specialists are concerned the continued depletion of herd also could lead to a collapse of the domestic meat market, worsening the food crisis.

In addition to these measures, non-food-item household kits will be pre-positioned in centers likely to experience an increase in migration as the situation worsens.

What You Can Do
It is a sad reality that female children are more vulnerable in a crisis. You can make a donation that will help ensure that girls at risk receive an education, skills training, emergency assistance and other important resources.  

For more information, click here. 

* Names have been changed to protect the individual.