Splitsville News

Cnn.com has this story about Nujood Ali, who has had life experiences beyond her years:  Child bride at 10; child rape victim (by her much older husband); and now, at 12, a child divorcee.

Nujood lives in Yemen, where more than half of girls are married before the age of 18.  The reason for marrying a girl at such a young age is to shift the financial and moral “burden” of caring for the girl to the husband instead of having it remain with the girl’s family.  Nujood’s parents took this shift quite seriously, apparently, as they told her she “belonged” to her husband even though he was beating and raping her.

Nujood ultimately hailed a taxi, went to the courthouse and demanded to see a judge.  Pending trial, she lived with human rights lawyer Shada Nasser, who represented her in the case.  The good news is that the judge granted the divorce, however the bad news is that (due to Shariah law) Nujood was ordered to pay her former husband to compensate him for the divorce.  As for so many women, the divorce did not mark an end of trouble, rather a transition into a new chapter.  Still, though, I think this is a better chapter.