Global Focus: Breaking the cycle of child marriage
- simoneworthing
- 16 hours ago
- 4 min read
BY THE EDITORIAL TEAM AT ALL THE WORLD*
Forced into marriage at 14, Fides’ life was transformed when access to education and support enabled her to return to school and rebuild her future.
Globally, about one in five girls are married before their 18th birthday.
Child marriage doesn’t result from a single cause; it stems from complex social, economic and cultural factors. These include: poverty; gender inequality and perceived norms that devalue girls’ autonomy and education; lack of access to schooling for girls; wider issues such as conflict, climate shocks and economic crises; and traditional ways of living which might mean that some communities reinforce early marriage as a rite of passage.
The Salvation Army is committed to both tackling modern slavery in all its forms and improving the lives of women and girls across the world.
As a global movement, The Salvation Army is uniquely positioned to be able to reach out and help girls and young women to get back to school and continue their education. This is due to the fact that Salvation Army corps are thriving across the world; many are located in hard-to-reach areas, for example, rural Zambia where Fides lives.
We believe that every girl should have the right to be educated and to live with dignity and without fear. At [The Salvation Army’s international magazine] All The World, we want to promote the voices of women and girls who have experienced these horrors by telling their stories in their own words.
Below we showcase Fides’ story. Fides lives in rural Zambia; a land-locked country in southern Africa. It is bordered by the DRC in the north, Tanzania and Malawi to the south and Mozambique and Botswana to the south.
FIDES’ STORY
Fides, like the young student above, attends school through The Salvation Army and can look forward with hope to the future.
My name is Fides Hadovwe and I am in Grade 10 at St. Patrick’s Secondary School in the Gwembe district of Southern Province in Zambia.
My mother is blind, and my father died a long time ago when I was still very young. This prompted me to drop out of school because of lack of financial support.
As a result of not being able to get sponsorship for school, I got married in 2020 when I was 14 years old. My husband took advantage of my vulnerability particularly because my father was dead and my mother was blind. He used to beat and mistreat me in any way he liked, especially when he came back from drinking beer.
In 2021, something terrible happened that made me feel ashamed and lonely. I felt as if a dark cloud had fallen on me and that I was alone on Earth. My husband divorced me and I had nowhere to go. Things had fallen apart on my side, and I had to go back and stay with my blind mother. Everything became worse when my mother died.
I had a lot of pressure to earn money and support my siblings as I am the eldest of four children. I did casual jobs for different people and I slept with different men just to earn a living. At this time, it was very difficult for me to think about going back to school.
However, someone from my village in Mulongalwili told me that the government of Zambia was offering free education. So, in 2022 I went to Mulongalwili Primary School in Monze district to look for a school place. I passed my exams to go into Grade 8 but there were no school places in Monze.
In 2023, I then approached St. Patrick’s secondary school to look for a school place. The head teacher, Mr Kaitano, felt pity for me after hearing my story. He enrolled me into Grade 8 and also contacted a teacher, Mr Moono, who could give me some guidance after what I had been through.
The school management helped me purchase the school uniform and learning materials through orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) grants. This opened a new chapter into my education journey. In 2024, I sat for my Grade 9 external and passed the examination to Grade 10 but I could not continue due to lack of financial support. As a result, I had to stay at home and I was back to square one: depending on men to survive.
However, in April 2025 I heard that The Salvation Army was helping girls to go back to school by preventing them from entering early marriages. The Salvation Army gave me this opportunity and provided all the school materials and requirements I needed to go back to school. I am very happy that now I am back at St Patrick’s secondary school doing my Grade 10.
Now, I really appreciate all the well-wishers who have helped me in my educational career as they have made such a difference in my life. I am looking forward to ongoing support so that I can advance further in my educational journey. I am also encouraging other pupils, those that have dropped out of school, to take this milestone privilege of free education and turn around their lives like I have done.
*To read the original story and for footnotes, click here.
Read more about how The Salvation Army is tackling modern slavery.
Learn about the signs to spot if someone is being held against their will.
