When Robena was 16-years-old, her father killed a person, and gave
Robena to the family he had hurt in order to compensate for the death.
She, too, became a victim of her father’s crime.
She was forced to marry one of the men in the victim’s family, and
they had a son together. When her son was only six-months-old, her
husband died and Robena’s life turned miserable.
After a year passed, Robena’s husband’s family decided to marry her
to her brother-in-law, a much older man that she did not want to marry.
Robena was always crying and thinking about how she could escape from
this family but could not see a way out. She decided to kill herself
before the marriage to the old man could take place.
One day, a woman by the name of Sima came to her house. Sima was a
member of the local widows association in Afghanistan that is supported
by CARE. Sima asked Robena how her life was going since the death of her
husband. Robena started crying and told her story to Sima. In turn,
Sima informed Robena about women’s rights and vowed to help her escape
her fate.
Together, they thought of a possible solution: Robena would agree to
marry her younger brother-in-law instead of the older one. They took the
issue to the widows association, who supported Robena’s right to not be
forced into a marriage that she didn’t desire.
Robena went home and informed her husband’s family that she would
agree to marriage if it was to her younger brother-in-law. After a few
days of intervention from the widows association, the family accepted
her proposal. Robena married her younger brother-in-law, and she says
she now leads a happy life.
Link: http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/girls-voices/robenas-story-afghanistan/
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