(ERGO) – Farah Hassan Mohamed, 84, a Somali refugee living in Hagadera camp in Dadaab, feels stressed because his daughter Halima was divorced and her ex-husband’s family are asking for their money back.
He had forced Halima into the marriage, despite her desire to continue her education.
“I was looking for money. We are refugees with many children, that is what made me marry her off,” Farah said, adding: “She was a good daughter and that is what led me to get her married.”
Halima Farah Hassan was 19 and in second grade of secondary school when she was married off. Now 22, she is back in her father’s house with a three-month old baby after being divorced and left by her husband.
The groom’s family has asked to be refunded the money they had given to Farah, but he is unable to pay it back.
“I got 100,000 [Kenya shillings] and bought some goats with it, and they all died after the drought. Now my daughter lives with me and I don’t know what to do,” said Farah, who has a family of 11 to support.
According to Farah, who has lived in Dadaab refugee camps since 1991, he regrets his decision and now understands some of the implications of pushing girls into hasty marriages at a young age. He says he is advising other parents to avoid such decisions and let their daughters finish their education.
Early marriages are common in Dadaab and are mostly spurred by the economic contributions the families receive for marrying off their daughters. Educationalists in the camps say more girls are at risk these days as the drought has pushed families into deeper economic hardship.
Many diaspora men have reportedly been marrying young girls from the camps and often divorcing them after a short time, leaving them to return to their parents.
Amina Mohamed Abdi, 23, is another former teenage bride. In December 2021, her parents proposed to marry her off while she was just a year away from completing her secondary school studies. She had to agree reluctantly after much dispute with her parents.
However, despite becoming a wife she still yearned to study. Her husband told her to forget about school or studies, sparking disputes between them. Eventually he terminated the marriage.
Amina said she gets anxious seeing her former classmates continuing their studies while she sits at home.
“I was studying with other girls who got opportunities to go to universities when they finished school. If today I was with those girls I would be at their level, if I hadn’t been pulled back by my parents. I am so demoralised now,” she said.
Amina and her young baby live with her parents. She hopes to return to her studies one day.
“I am planning to leave my child with my parents and go back to school and finish the last class that I left, because education will benefit me,” she said.
Isnino Ali Adan was also forced into early marriage when she was 18, while sitting for the national primary school exams in her eighth grade. She agreed to marry on the condition that she would be able to go back to finish secondary school.
However, after entering the first year of secondary school she became pregnant and had to leave.
“I couldn’t disagree with my parents. But having no education has its problems. Now I am just sitting here and my husband doesn’t have a good job, he works in a bakery earning 150-200 shillings a day,” she said.
Isnino, 24, was born in Hagadera camp and has four children with her husband. She believes that if she had completed her education her life would have taken a different turn.
The director of Hagadera secondary school, Mohamed Hussein Ali, said he has noticed a rise in the number of early marriages among students in the past two years.
“Every year students, especially girls, leave the school due to marriage. I believe that 10 per cent of the girls get married off, if not more. It is common for the girls to get married in secondary school and even in primary schools,” he said.
The school director said awareness needed to be raised among parents about their daughters’ future, as most parents in the camp did not consider education to be important for girls.
The school has been trying to convince some parents to stop rushing their daughters into early marriages.
