In the remote village of Unapani in Nepal, 15-year-old Binsa lives with her parents and three older siblings. The family farms, but the harvest lasts only seven months. To ease the family’s burden, Binsa’s parents begin pressuring her to marry a 15-year-old boy who lives in the same village. Binsa is distraught, but she does not realise that this is a fundamental violation of her rights.
The right to say no
Child marriage deprives girls of schooling and the chance to break out of poverty. A group of teenage girls from the village of Unapani want to put an end to this through a Mission East-supported project. Binsa is invited to join the project team and take part in classes where she and other girls learn about the consequences of child marriage, which excludes girls from education and often leads to early pregnancies for which the young girl’s body is not ready. She also learns about children’s rights and the law in this area. Binsa’s teacher and friends from the project team are working hard to convince her parents to let her continue in school and find work afterwards, rather than marrying her off. It was particularly difficult to convince the father, but he finally managed to realise that Binsa had the right to say no to marriage.
