Pending Adoption
March 21, 2006
I just read the teaser for an online news story, and the teaser alone gripped my heart:
Married at the age of four, an Afghan girl was subjected to years of beatings and torture, finally escaping to discover that within all the world's cruelty, there is also some kindness.
Her father died when she was young, and her mother re-married a year later. Her new step-father didn't want her, so her mother gave this precious girl away in a promise of marriage to the thirty-year-old son of a neighbor.
Sometimes people are surprised at the eight year difference between Roger and me, but it doesn't really affect us that much. But a twenty four year difference? That should just be illegal. Particularly when the bride is FOUR. YEARS. OLD.
I want to know what he did with her. Did he treat her as a wife, or did he allow her to grow up? Incidentally, this reminds me of how I felt when I first started reading the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.
The newsstory reports that she wasn't sexually assualted, but that she was horrifically beaten. Scars cover the entire breadth of her back from where she was whipped with electric wires. She has a bald spot where scalding water was poured on her. She has lived through so much cruelty, and yet she has lived. She is on the other side, looking back, and still praising humanity. She still believes there are good people in the world - that ALL people are good - except those that hurt her.
I cannot ignore the grief and anxiety I feel when I read her story. I want her to be whole again. I know that process will take a very, very long time. Stories like this break my heart. Stories like this make me want to be capable of doing something - anything - to help. I wish I could adopt this precious girl.
Comments
Um, hello. I have work to do. Could you please not send me into tears this early in the day?
Look at her sweet smile. Have to go now before I start ranting and raving at the injustice of it all.
Oh and Jes, check your math. It's 26, not 24.
What a brave, beautiful little girl.
Posted by: heather | March 21, 2006 12:10 PM
Hi Jes, thanks for the visit.
The poor girl. That breaks my heart. So many things like this go on, and we never hear about it. No justice is ever brought. That's the part that really hurts.
Posted by: Kristi | March 21, 2006 12:40 PM
Dude. Heather. I'm so glad you're around, because I probably never would have noticed.
Can I blame it on the fact that I went through school in Terrell?
Posted by: jes | March 21, 2006 12:43 PM
the first two pictures are haunting
but the last one, her smile, the hope in her eyes, the strength, that is what touches me the most
Posted by: Katie | March 21, 2006 12:46 PM
Blame it on whatever you want, Jes. It's your story, you tell it.
Posted by: heather | March 21, 2006 01:59 PM
Out of all the comments at Blurbomat for some reason I clicked on your link and found myself here. What a powerful story. Thank you for sharing it. We can only work to change what we know. Sadly there are many girls in this situation all over the world. We forget how lucky, especially as women, we have it in this country. Sure we have a way to go before equal wages and some other inequalities in the US but when we stop and remember the suffering of women in other countries we really see what a long way we've come.
Posted by: Terri | March 21, 2006 04:55 PM
Married at 4. I have never heard of that in my life. uck.
Posted by: Suzy | March 21, 2006 06:49 PM
I saw the last photo first and then saw the title, and I couldn't figure out why you were saying you wanted to adopt a woman. But she is still a girl, and her life has aged her tremendously.
She has courage tested by fire. No one should have to endure what she went through. I pray that her inside scars will heal when her outside ones don't.
Did you read where they used her as their kitchen table? Cutting their food on her back? That's a true atrocity.
Posted by: AmStaff Mom | March 22, 2006 07:18 AM
Oh. My. Goodness.
There are no words for that kind of abuse. How can anyone do that to a child. Well, to anyone, but particularly a child.
At the risk of repeating what everyone else has already said, what a beautiful smile and what an unbelievable girl. Her parents should be shot.
Posted by: Lia | March 22, 2006 12:42 PM
ugh. that first part makes me sick to my stomach, but the fact that she is looking at the brightside makes me feel bad when I complain about what I have. We take so much for granted.
Posted by: eddo | March 23, 2006 07:44 AM