Child Brides Photo Series Proves Girls Are Simply 'Too Young To Wed'
Photographer Stephanie Sinclair's
images aim to raise funds for girls forced into a practice that affects
more than 14.2 million girls every year.
When Mejgon was 11 years old, her father sold her to a married 60-year-old Afghanistan man for two boxes of heroin.
“In my whole life, I’ve never felt love,” Mejgon, who endured years
of abuse, told National Geographic photographer Stephanie Sinclair when
she was 16.
Every year, 14.2 million girls like
Mejgon are forced to marry before they turn 18, a damaging tradition
that disproportionately affects poor girls and leaves them more
susceptible to abuse, poverty and death due to childbirth and other
health complications.
Sinclair met Mejgon at a safe house in Herat when she first began
documenting the struggles and injustices child brides face. After
learning that Mejgon had been sent back to live with her father,
Sinclair felt emboldened to continue her photo initiative, which has now
evolved into the "Too Young To Wed" series, a campaign that aims to raise awareness and funds for girls who are trapped in the cycle of child marriage.
“I have no idea what became of [Mejgon]. I’m sure it wasn’t good,”
Sinclair told The Huffington Post. “The fact that I was powerless to do
anything about it has been one of the main reasons why I continued the
project and why I’m still working on it today.”
Mejgon,16, weeps in the arms of her caseworker near fellow residents at an NGO
shelter run by Afghan women in Herat, Afghanistan. Mejgon’s father sold
her at the age of 11 to a 60-year-old man for two boxes of heroin.
