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Guatemala – Too Young to Wed
By STEPHANIE SINCLAIR* - FEB. 6, 2015
In
Guatemala, it's legal for a girl to marry as young as 14 — though many are
married far younger than that. The result: Many girls marry men far older than
themselves and become mothers long before they are physically and emotionally
ready. Communicating the individual experiences of these child brides across
cultural and language barriers became my passion, and, ultimately, my life's
work. This project in Guatemala was done in partnership with the United Nations
Population Fund. The film below was co-directed by Katie Orlinsky.
Saidi, 16 and 9 months pregnant, at the home of her in-laws. She was married at 15. “My husband left for work in May, 4 months ago. I haven’t heard from him since - Saidi, 16.
Guatemala,
the legal age of marriage is 14 with parental consent, but in Petén, in the
northern part of the country, the law seems to be more of a suggestion.
Underage brides are everywhere. They parade endlessly through Petén’s hospital
in San Benito, seeking medical care. Most have traveled from the villages along
the mud-soaked roads that flow out in all directions.
I visited
almost a dozen of these villages to meet some of the child brides of Petén for
the latest Too Young to Wed transmedia project, this one a partnership with the
United Nations Population Fund. Guatemala was the 10th country I had worked in
documenting the issue of child marriage since 2003, after a chance encounter
with several young brides in Afghanistan.
Child
marriage is pervasive in more than 50 countries, with girls in
rural areas of developing nations especially vulnerable. In the villages of
Guatemala, around 53 percent of women age 20 to 24 were married before age 18,
and 13 percent before age 15, according to the Population Council. Many of
these girls faced harsh consequences, similar to those of child brides in other
developing nations. They had withdrawn from their educations, some as early as
elementary school; were subject to physical and sexual violence; risked
dangerous pregnancies and went without crucial medical care. Many aspects of
their lives were controlled by older men who considered the girls little more
than sexual and domestic servants.
Furthermore,
the physically immature and psychologically unready young mothers were prone to
complications during childbirth, which often took place at home. For girls in
Petén villages, the journey to competent care could take hours and the consequences
dire. According to the International Health Alliance,
Petén has the highest rate of maternal mortality in Guatemala at 172 deaths for
every 100,000 births. The infant mortality is also high at 40 deaths for every
1,000 births.
When I
visited the hospital, there were no fewer than four babies in the neonatal
intensive care unit, all born premature to 14-year-old mothers.
“We call
these children ‘little miracles,’ because it is a miracle that he is alive,”
said Dr. Daniel Álvarez, a pediatrician with San Benito National Hospital,
pointing out an infant who weighed only one and a half pounds at birth. “We
don’t have the adequate equipment to treat a child that’s so little.”
Other times,
the girls’ problems began only after making it home with their babies, where
they were frequently abandoned by their husbands. Aracely was four months
pregnant when her husband left, declaring the child wasn’t his. Now 15, Aracely
is resigned to the burdens of being a single mother.
“During the
time I was pregnant, he didn’t give me any money. He hasn’t even come to see
the boy now that he’s a year old,” she said. Aracely is not alone in her
experience. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that in 2015 more than
550,000 Guatemalan girls will marry before they are 18. That’s 1,500 girls
married every day in just one country.
Manuela, 14, at the San Benito Youth
Clinic with her 1-year-old daughter, Dani. Married at age 12, she traveled more
than two hours to the clinic to learn about family planning.
A newborn child of a 14-year-old
mother. The baby boy was born premature and weighed less than three pounds.
* Stephanie Sinclair, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning photojournalist, is the founder and executive director of the
nonprofit organization Too Young to Wed.