Post by Expat on Feb 5, 2011 21:42:45 GMT
AT the tender age of 14, Nyarai has been betrothed to a senior member of the apostolic sect as the eighth wife.
The marriage was arranged outside her knowledge and she found herself dropping out of school to take up her new role as a wife.
Nyarai (not real name) of Matara Village in Murehwa, Mashonaland East Province, is polygamist Jacob Garwe’s latest “trophy” and has been yoked with seven other women, senior to her in both age and experience in the matrix of polygamous matrimonial issues.
The most unfortunate thing is that according to church doctrine, she could not override her father’s decision to marry her off, let alone report to police.
The youthful member of the Johane Marange apostolic sect could easily pass for a high school pupil and her pint-sized body says a lot about the ups and downs in her life.
But she is one of the eight wives in a polygamous union after she was married off in a shady transaction between her father and Garwe (51).
Child marriage is a violation of human rights and is prohibited by a number of international conventions and other instruments (Unicef 2001).
But Madzibaba Desmond of the Johane Marange sect has his own views about wrong and right and defends his sect’s policies saying marrying young girls has been their tradition for years and there is nothing wrong with the practice.
In fact, he said, the marriages are blessed by the church and they are done with the consent of the girl’s parents.
“Some of the men do not immediately become intimate with the small girls,” he said.
“Once a man identifies the girl he likes and her parents agree, the man usually keeps the girl at his home so that she gets accustomed to what goes on there.
The marriage was arranged outside her knowledge and she found herself dropping out of school to take up her new role as a wife.
Nyarai (not real name) of Matara Village in Murehwa, Mashonaland East Province, is polygamist Jacob Garwe’s latest “trophy” and has been yoked with seven other women, senior to her in both age and experience in the matrix of polygamous matrimonial issues.
The most unfortunate thing is that according to church doctrine, she could not override her father’s decision to marry her off, let alone report to police.
The youthful member of the Johane Marange apostolic sect could easily pass for a high school pupil and her pint-sized body says a lot about the ups and downs in her life.
But she is one of the eight wives in a polygamous union after she was married off in a shady transaction between her father and Garwe (51).
Child marriage is a violation of human rights and is prohibited by a number of international conventions and other instruments (Unicef 2001).
But Madzibaba Desmond of the Johane Marange sect has his own views about wrong and right and defends his sect’s policies saying marrying young girls has been their tradition for years and there is nothing wrong with the practice.
In fact, he said, the marriages are blessed by the church and they are done with the consent of the girl’s parents.
“Some of the men do not immediately become intimate with the small girls,” he said.
“Once a man identifies the girl he likes and her parents agree, the man usually keeps the girl at his home so that she gets accustomed to what goes on there.