I’m But a Child

I’m just 15 years old—
supposed to be in school,
competing with my mates in class.
I am supposed to be cared for, provided for, and guided.
But no—
that has been snatched away from me.

I’m but a child.

A girl denied the right to make a choice.
Forced to drop out of school,not because of school fees,
but to be married off
to an old man in the village.
Tears ran down my eyes
as I kissed my future goodbye.

I’m but a child.

On my way home,
I thought of how to become a good moth- er
at the age of fifteen.
Thinking about pregnancy and delivery,
I asked myself:
“Why has life chosen to be so cruel to
me?”

All my dreams of becoming a midwife, all my expectations,
were swept away.

Instead of me saving lives in the labor room,
my life needed saving.

I’m but a child.

In the labor room,
as I struggled to make a passage for the baby,
I bled too much and lost my strength. Rushed into operation—
I lost my life,
and so did my baby.

On my dying bed I said:
“My parents killed me because of wealth. Please tell the whole world to stop and fight
child and forced marriage.
Support and promote girl-child education. Let me be the last girl-child
to die in the labor room.”
And there, on the bed, lay my body
and the body of my child.
When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.