Early marriage occurs when one or both spouses are below the age of 18 years at the time of their first marriage. It is one of the major traditional practices in developing counties particularly in Ethiopia; which has significant physical, intellectual, psychological, and emotional effects and reduces educational opportunities and the chance for personal growth for both boys and girls.
This practice is known to occur in the Amhara region of Northern Ethiopia. Ethiopia has a population of 74 million, 85 % of which resides in rural areas.
The practice of early marriage (before age 18) is prevalent, especially in the Amhara region of Northern Ethiopia where parents’ consent to their daughters’ consummated marriages.
The betrothal occurs earlier when they are still as young as 10 or 12 and 50 % of girls are married by the age of 15. In Amhara, the maid trade is a common practice that affects over a three-quarter of girls in the region and sees about 1,500 leave the country daily for greener pastures.
Once a girl menstruates, someone marries her off because it is a “sin” to remain unmarried. In these communities, a girl of fourteen years is overdue for marriage.
Some of these girls spending as “much” like three months in the marriage before getting a divorce. This ticket enables her to travel to oil-rich countries as an illegal immigrant to become a domestic worker.
While there, she remains obligated to send money to her parents. There is no fear of her getting raped because she has been “deflowered in a dignified way.”
Marriages are often arranged, with men marrying in their late teens or early twenties and the girls were married as young as 14. After a church wedding, divorce is frowned upon. Each family hosts a separate wedding feast after the wedding. Upon childbirth, a priest will visit the family to bless the infant.
The mother and child remain in the house for 40 days after birth for physical and emotional strength. The infant will be taken to the church for baptism at 40 days (for boys) or 80 days (for girls).
PRB published an article about Wobete Falaga, who is from a village in Ethiopia’s Amhara region. She was only 13 when she became pregnant. Married at 11, just before her first menstrual period, her small underdeveloped body was not ready for the stress of childbirth. After five days of grueling labor at home, her child was finally born, but it was dead.
As a result of the long, strenuous labor, Wobete suffered crippling injuries. There was a hole, or fistula, between her bladder and vagina and another between her v$gina and rectum.
The damage left her body unable to control its normal excretory functions, and urine and feces were constantly dripping down her legs. Her husband quickly rejected her, sending her home to her family.
Wobete’s mother took her to the government health clinic in the province’s main town, Bahir Dar, but the nurses there said they were unable to treat the girl.
They advised Wobete’s mother to take the girl to the capital Addis Ababa as soon as possible and said if her condition remained untreated, she would face death from infection and kidney failure. The family sold a cow to pay for the three-day bus journey and arrived penniless at the gates of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital with Wobete.
Reliable data on obstetric fistula are hard to come by because of the stigma associated with the condition. Describing it as the most devastating of all pregnancy-related disabilities, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says obstetric fistula affects an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 women around the world every year and is particularly common in sub-Saharan Africa, where populations face challenges to obtaining quality health care. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 8,000 Ethiopian women develop new fistulas every year.
The condition occurs when a woman — usually one who is young and poor — has an obstructed labor and, lacking a skilled birth attendant and emergency obstetric care, does not get a Caesarean section when she needs it.
The obstruction may occur because her pelvis is too small, the baby is badly positioned, or its head is too big. Underlying causes include childbearing at too early an age, poverty, malnutrition, and lack of education.
In an effort to prevent and treat the condition worldwide, UNFPA is spearheading a global campaign whose partners include governments, health care providers, and organizations such as the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, EngenderHealth, Columbia University’s Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the World Health Organization
Every year in Addis Ababa, Hamlin’s hospital treats 1,200 women who have obstetric fistulas. Hospital records indicate that most patients come from the Amhara region, which — according to a survey by the National Committee on Traditional Practices of Ethiopia— has the highest number of early marriages in the country.
Fortunately, most fistulas can be corrected surgically, even after several years. Though the $450 operation is far beyond what most patients can afford, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital offers free beds and surgery.
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