Centre for National Culture dramatises campaign on ‘End Child Marriage Now’

The Centre for National Culture (CNC), Volta Region, has taken its campaign against child marriage to three communities in Ketu South, using drama to sensitise the public on its harmful effects.The CNC through its Performing Arts Department staged the captivating drama under the Centre's Theatre for Community Development (TCD) project, at a gathering of chiefs, community leaders, men, women, and schoolchildren in communities including Aflao Agorkpanu and Gakli.The project, supported by the Social Welfare Department, Ketu South was sponsored by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).Titled 'For a Brighter Future, End Child Marriage Now,' the play told the poignant story of a 12-year-old girl, Nyuiemedi, who her father forced into marriage with an over 50-year-old man due to poverty, disrupting her education and almost shattering her aspiration.When at the age of 18, Nyuiemedi had three children, living with HIV, and had to go round washing clothes of community members to support her household, she de cided that she had had enough of the harsh life.With the support of her former teacher who helped her with her studies, her brother, and her friend who introduced her to social workers and a non-profit organisation, Nyuiemedi wrote her basic education examination and furthered her education to achieve her dream of becoming a great Mathematician from her community.Through powerful performances, the actors highlighted the devastating consequences of child marriage, including early pregnancy, health complications, and limited economic opportunities with a touch of hope that with self-determination and the necessary support, victims of child marriages could still realise their dreams and make meaningful contributions to society.Speakers from the departments of Social Welfare, Ketu South and Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Aflao emphasised that child marriage was a violation of children's rights and that contractors of these marriages would be liable.Mrs Lydia Nyarko- Ampomah, the Volta Region CNC Director called for a collective fight against the harmful practice to ensure girls realise their full potential in their own interest and for the common good.She explained to Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the project, which formed part of the Centre's core mandate as well as corporate social responsibility to use theatre to educate the public on social issues /vices to influence change was being done in Ketu South and one other district in Tongu, basically seeking to ensure that child marriage if not eradicated, was minimised.'If a society has for instance 100 people and 60 are women and 40 are men. And the women suffer from such issues. At the end of the day, the full potential of the community will not be achieved. There are others who will say there are advantages to early marriage, but the disadvantages far outweigh them.It is always good that we allow our children to achieve their dreams. Those who want to be doctors… Let them go to school, achieve their dreams then ma rry when they want to marry.'The people were grateful for the message admitting that child marriage and teenage pregnancy were curtailing the rights and development of girl children and required concerted efforts to guarantee the future of the region and the country at large in terms of human resources.Mr Ibrahim Sido spoke to GNA describing the play as educative saying, he had already pledged not to let any of his children (currently having formal education) suffer from that practice and that they would be done with their education and ripe for marriage before embarking on it.Source: Ghana News Agency