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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

Nujood Ali gained global notoriety for her brave fight against her much older, abusive husband, but where she has been left since then is nowhere near where she dreamed she would end up.
By The Staff at wowOwow.com
© Shutterstock

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

Grande Camper
That child should not have gone back to her family.  Sounds like all they wanted was money.  They sold her as a child bride I sure for money.  Now they wanted the media to bring in money.  Since they don’t see the child bring them money they cast her out as a weird one in the family.
By Grande Camper on 08/27/2009 10:35 am
Wendy R
She should be getting a cut of the profits from who ever is writing the book and profiting on the sale of her story. Of course her family is not being supportive, they are the ones that married her off at 10 years old to an old, abusive man. Who ever is profiting off this child’s story needs to set up some kind of trust for this little girl, because I wouldn’t trust her family with the money.
By Wendy R on 08/27/2009 10:36 am
Eldebbo C
Sad, sad, so sad. Hopefully, if CNN broadcast her story, someone will step up and give this girl some help. I agree that her family needs to be taken out of the picture. This is one example of cultures in other countries that just blow my mind.
By Eldebbo C on 08/27/2009 10:41 am
S G
How sad that little girls are forced into these situations. She is obviously quite bright ans spunky. I wish someone would take her and give her a loved life and what could be salvaged of a childhood. Children world wide deserve rights to have a childhood. I am sure she could also use some therapy.
By S G on 08/27/2009 11:20 am
Belinda Joy

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?

By Belinda Joy on 08/27/2009 2:12 pm
L. C.

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)

By L. C. on 08/28/2009 8:08 am
Belinda Joy

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!

By Belinda Joy on 08/28/2009 8:43 am
F P

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 

By F P on 08/28/2009 5:53 am
C jay

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.

By C jay on 08/30/2009 6:23 pm
Pdr de
Millions of children all over the world are horribly abused and have no rights - countless numbers of them are sold or stolen into sexual slavery, prostitution.  If we were forced to watch programs showing what these children endure we would be frantic to help them and helpless in most cases to do so.  It would be wonderful if someone from the U.S. could adopt this child - given the total lack of regard for the rights of women in her country, I’m amazed some brother, father or uncle hasn’t killed her for bringing shame to the family.  I don’t know how men who sexually and physically abuse children live with themselves but they seem to flourish not only in the world at large, but in our society.  Their punishment is often a slap on the hand if, indeed, they are punished at all.  Our tolerance in this world seems to be stretching instead of shrinking where abuse is concerned.  God must weep!
By Pdr de on 08/28/2009 5:58 am
Chrome Toe
I wondered if this might happen. She needs an adult advocate with the power to see that she is not being abused, neglected or abandoned. I don’t know how that can happen for her given her countries legal and social systems. I suppose at this point if there is a spotlight placed on the aftermath she may recieve some real asisstance from somewhere. WHO got her to go public in the first place? That person or organization needs to take responsibility for this and step up to the plate.
By Chrome Toe on 08/29/2009 9:03 am
C jay

We are all abusing her, over and over again.

By C jay on 08/30/2009 6:24 pm
frances roehm
…..and the answer is, She should be immediately adopted by a person in this country to remove her from a culture that views girls as property. The reason her life is no better since her divorce is that she was delivered back to the miserable bastard called her father and the mother that enables him. The greedy father thought media attention would enrich him. Now that it hasn’t he probably beats her everyday since he so callously and cheaply sold her virginity away. So much for the grand patriarchy that keeps this world just two steps out of the cave door. 
By frances roehm on 09/02/2009 9:19 pm