Giving Compass' Take:

· Global Citizen tells the story of Samra Zafar, once a child bride turned human rights activist working to further gender equality and empower women and girls around the world by sharing her experiences.

· How can activists like Samra Zafar encourage others to speak out about their experience and become involved in eliminating child marriage around the world? How does Zafar's story emphasize the importance of connection and empowerment? What can donors do to further efforts addressing child marriage? 

· Check out this article about how one child bride convinced her country to ban child marriages.

When Samra Zafar was 16 years old, her mother came into her room and told her she’d received a marriage proposal.

“I was doing my math homework,” Zafar, now 36, told Global Citizen. “I was just sitting at my desk, doing my homework.”

They lived in Ruwais, a small town in the United Arab Emirates. The man she would marry, she came to learn, was a family friend’s brother who lived in Canada. Her mom told her it was a good way for her to be able to get a university education and to be taken care of. It wasn’t up for debate — the plans would soon be set.

By 17, Zafar was married. Her official wedding was in Karachi, Pakistan, and afterwards, her husband went back to Canada to file the necessary paperwork while Zafar stayed behind. About a year later, he flew back again for a reception in Abu Dhabi.

By this time, Zafar had been married on paper for a year, but she barely knew her husband. They would speak on the phone occasionally and chat online, but he was still very much a stranger to her — a stranger who was 10 years older.

She moved to Canada within the week of her reception, and was pregnant within the month.

Read the full article about this human rights activist by Jackie Marchildon at Global Citizen.