Empower Mothers to Stop Child Marriage

"When my husband came to see me the first time I was playing with the other children. I was 12 years old. He was 20."

"I was married when I was 14. If I said no there were men with sticks who would have beat me."

"When I was 13 I was married, and I had my child when I was 14 years of age."

This is what the women at the Village Organization, a women's group started and supported by War Child in Kabul, Afghanistan, talk about.

In Afghanistan, a staggering 40% of women are married as young teens, stealing their childhoods and causing them to have babies years before their bodies are ready. These women are forced to forfeit the opportunity to go to school, learn a trade or even join in community activities.

War Child knows that if you give women a safe space to support each other and learn about their rights, an education and vocational and business training, moving them from illiterate to empowered, then you have changed their lives.

The women at the Village Organization have started their own businesses and are supporting their families. But what is making them the happiest is that they know they are creating a different and better future for their children – one in which 12 year old girls get to play and experience the joys of childhood.

Add your name to stand with War Child USA today to support the many women and girls in Afghanistan and beyond who want to escape childhood marriage and lead empowered, productive lives.