Yemen Child Bride, Nujood Ali | 08/27/2009 10:15 am
Yemen Child Bride Granted Divorce at Age 10 Now Sorry for Advertising Her Plight

A year after Yemen child bride Nujood Ali made world headlines for asking for — and being granted — a divorce from her much older, abusive husband, her life doesn’t seem that much better.
Last year, Nujood was even named one of Glamour magazine’s women of the year, along with Hillary Clinton and Nicole Kidman, for bravely taking the stand in defense of herself. Her story is coming out in book form in 20 languages. But CNN recently went to visit the girl who, at the age of ten, became a heroine to many in the effort to save little girls from marriage. But Nujood says despite her fame and the attention paid to her story, she has received little help to better her impoverished life, and she is having a hard time dealing with the media attention and the aftermath.
Monetary donations enabled Nujood to go to a private school, but she refuses to go regularly. She initially attended, after the divorce, but her attendance has plummeted. Her family isn’t being very supportive of her, and her lawyer, Shada Nasser, told CNN she thinks little Nujood is being victimized by the family because they think her fame should bring them fortune.
"There is no change at all since going on television. I hoped there was someone to help us, but we didn’t find anyone to help us. It hasn’t changed a thing. They said they were going to help me and no one has helped me. I wish I had never spoken to the media," Nujood told CNN, adding that she feels like an outcast among friends and family for bringing the spotlight onto herself and the controversial issue.
So what can be done to help this little girl go back to a "normal" life? We’re not sure, but she certainly deserves the chance to be a happy-go-lucky child like any other girl her age, and not to endure the scorn and humiliation she seems to be facing for trying to save her own life.























14 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
My first thought is why was she returned to the very people who sold her to a pedophile? But then again, I am thinking with my westerner mindset. Do they really have homes that take in orphans and abandoned children? Was she to be turned out on the streets? Could another relative have taken her in and who’s to say they wouldn’t have done the same? So this is one of those stories that makes me angry because I feel hopeless in helping her.
Why can’t children simply be children?
Belinda Joy, I agree 100%.
You’re a sensitive and compassionate young woman. This is a difficult topic. Stay strong and keep your spirits up. There is a God who sits on high. You reap what you sow. These pedophiles will pay. You know the word. I know you hear me. :o)
I agree L.C., they will get theres. Karma.
P.S. Thanks for calling me a young woman ;-) and I hope you have a great weekend!
Think life is bad in muslim countries for women and girls? You really don’t know the half of it—read this:
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/2009%20-%20Summer/full-Bachrach.html
F P, read that again, and substitute US locations for those in the Middel East. This happens here, too, and you know it. Talk about sexual misconduct at religious affairs … lest we so quickly forget the horrors here of the past 22 years by clerics, and it’s still going on.
Males worldwide are the same, the only difference is language.
We are all abusing her, over and over again.