We were so moved by the story of 15-year-old activist and Syrian refugee Omaima Hoshan, who began looking into the issue of child marriage after 12- and 13-year-old classmates left school to marry, and was moved by the courage and work of Malala Yousafzai. Hoshan now leads workshops for teenage girls and their families, working to encourage education instead of child marriage.
It’s an issue that desperately needs attention: According to a UNICEF report, more than 700 million women worldwide were married before turning 18
Read the rest of Hoshan’s story at the link. You can also watch her speak about why the issue is so important to her in a video by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
her.yourstory.com – Syria born Omaima Hoshan was 11-years-old when the war in Syria forced her to flee to Jordan with her family. The Hoshans left Damascus in 2012 and sought refuge at the Zaatari refugee camp — one of the largest in the world. Her main concern when she arrived at Zaatari was to resume her education and make new friends in the camp.
In a report by The Huffington Post, in the classroom, she discovered a troubling trend. “When I got to sixth grade, I started hearing about girls as young as 12 or 13 getting married. They would come to the school to say goodbye,” the now 15- year-old, told visitors from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a United Nations refugee agency, in April. “I remember thinking that they were making a big mistake,” she added.
When one of her closest friends, Basma (whose real name has been changed), told her that she was to be married at the age of 14, Omaima’s outrage reached new heights, and propelled her into action. Osmaima vowed that she wouldn’t let herself suffer the same fate — and she would try everything in her power to stop more child marriages from taking place in the camp.
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