(ERGO) – A women’s organisation in Baidoa, which works to resolve family conflicts and advocates for girls’ right to education, has released data showing that about 500 girls have dropped out of school in the past three years after their parents forced them into marriage.
Of these girls, 300 are now struggling as single mothers in 210 displacement camps on the outskirts of the city after their marriages ended in divorce, the organisation confirmed to Radio Ergo.
Batulo Ali Mohamed, now 20, told Radio Ergo that she did not choose her husband, but was given to a man she did not know by her parents. In 2023, when she was married, she was completing intermediate school and had high hopes for her education.
“There is no more education. Since I was married, I dropped out to stay at home, and I immediately had children. I couldn’t manage the household chores and the children at the same time. I was in the eighth grade when I left school. I was told that my education should end there. My parents gave me away – I didn’t choose it,” she said.
Batulo had planned to start university after secondary school to pursue a career in medicine. She wanted to provide free medical services to poor and displaced people, as she had lived among them and understood their situation.
She was divorced in April 2025 after two years of the marriage and is now raising two small children, aged one year and four months. Their father has refused to pay child support, forcing her to rely on cleaning jobs earning a couple of dollars that doesn’t cover the food and milk needs of her children.
“I have many challenges. I am raising children whose father and I have separated. There is no one to care for the children for me. In the morning, I cook a meal. But even getting one meal a day is difficult and a struggle,” she said.
Batulo lives in a small hut built for her in May by the camp chairman. It provides little protection from the sun or cold. She expressed despair over her difficult life and noted that her family were displaced people and had no money to help her.
Amino Ahmed Mohamed, 22, was married at the age of 17, while in the first year of secondary school. Her husband and parents told her that she could not continue school and must stay at home and take care of her family.
“I left my education because my father married me off when I was young. Then I had children and stayed at home. It was impossible for me to continue. The reason I was given away was that my parents agreed to the marriage because I’m a girl,” she said.
Amino is raising five children alone, two of whom are twins, and she is unable to provide them with consistent food. She supports them doing sewing work, making $2.5 to $4 a day. She was taught sewing by a woman in the camp.
She indicated that she is under pressure with debts of $270 for food, water, and clothes for the children.
“I am forced to beg people and say to the shop owners, brother I don’t have anything in my hands now, but I will bring the money later,” she said.
According to Qureysho Ali Mohamed, the chair of the women’s organisation that revealed the data about such young women and girls, most girls forced into marriage are between 15 and 20 years old. These forced marriages often end in divorce, creating challenges raising the children.
“I am sending a message to parents not to force their daughters into marriage,” she said.
Qureysho said some parents married off their young daughters for financial reasons, while others gave them away because they see it as a traditional custom.
