When being a child is hard work

Ethiopia: In the north of the country, we, together with our partner organisation, are combating exploitative child labour, child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). Please help by becoming a sponsor of a child!

Like merciless thieves, the last hundred metres on the road are always the ones that rob you of your last drop of strength. After an hour or so, on her way home after fetching water, Abary (name changed to protect her identity) finds each additional step on the dusty path an enormous struggle. In such scorching heat it is all too much: the load on her shoulders is so heavy and balancing the two bulky jerry cans in the scorching heat for such a long time is exhausting. But there is no time to rest after her long march. The rest of Abary’s day is taken up with housework. The man she fleetingly knew in the village as Dereje has recently become her husband. Abary now has to fulfil her conjugal duties regularly. Even though she is only 13 years old!

Abary lives in the Gozamin district in northern Ethiopia. A region, in which child marriage is widespread. Even girls, who are still at primary school, have to run the household, cook, have sex and bear children.

But there is more than one brutal tradition that stubbornly persists thanks to people’s lack of education. It is one that Abary has also had to painfully endure. A blunt, rusty razor blade was used to cut off her labia, bringing her childhood to a brutally abrupt end. The custom of female genital mutilation is deeply rooted in local culture and is still practised despite being prohibited. For the girls concerned, genital mutilation is real torture, inflicting high levels of physical and mental damage. Blood loss, seizures, shock, life-threatening infections, infertility and incontinence – the consequences of FGM are devastating and, in some cases, fatal.

In the region, where Abary now lives with her husband, who is 20 years her senior, exploitative child labour is commonplace. Smallholders in the area have no knowledge of modern farming methods and technologies. Production levels are too low, which means that, by June, everything has been used up. Farmers cannot afford any of the expensive merchandise sold at market. And, so, in order to survive, the fathers move from place to place as migrant workers. Children are sold to rich families in other districts, who use them to carry out the hard work on the land or in the household. Children turned into slaves.

In co-operation with our regional partner, Facilitator for Change (FC), we have a working commitment to turn slaves back into children again, give them the chance to access education and go on to lead a self-determined life! The major focus of our project work is to reduce exploitative child labour, child marriage and FGM. To bring about long-term improvements in the children’s situation, we work closely with the women and mothers in the region to empower them socially and economically. In 169 self-help groups, 2,880 women save small amounts together and award each other small loans as a financial basis to put business ideas into practice. Improving women’s economic situation enhances their ability to feed their families and send their children back to school.

To ensure the quality of educational standards, we finance classroom construction and renovation, provide school materials and ensure teachers have adequate further training opportunities. Children between the ages of four and six also receive early preschool support.

In agricultural courses, farmers learn effective farming techniques and organic farming methods. Young unemployed people receive an apprenticeship in animal husbandry, crafts or running a small business, while adults learn the “three Rs” – reading, writing and arithmetic – so that they can put their small business ideas into practice. And to ensure that as many girls as possible will not have to go through what Abary did, our local project partner FC is raising the awareness among farmers’ groups, women and young people of the physical and mental dangers of genital mutilation and child marriage!