In Nigeria, Child Brides, Child Workers Denied Education

In parts of Nigeria, activists say it is increasingly common for girls to drop out of school to be married as young as 12 or 13 years old.  At the same age, other girls hit the streets, hawking goods in the markets.  In Abuja the girls say if they had the chance to go to school they could be doctors or lawyers, but more often they are barely able to survive.

Thirteen-year-old Yalwa is at home alone and noticeably pregnant.  Her husband, in his 30s, is at work pushing goods from the market in a wheelbarrow.

Her ghetto home has no running water, sporadic electricity and no door to speak of.  But that is not what Yalwa wants.

She says what she wants is to go to school.  Before she was married she dreamed of being a doctor or a midwife.  At her parents’ house, Yalwa and her siblings sometimes ate only once a day.  She thought if she got married, her husband, with only one mouth to feed would help her go to school.  But it did not turn out that way.