Oumas Wedding – Child marriages in Niger
In Niger, every 3 out of 4 female is married before the age of 18. These marriages are often arranged between the girl’s parents and her future husband to be, who has to pay for the girl with a dowry.
This is the story of a young girl named Ouma and her wedding as a second wife to a man almost twice her age. It is also a story of the Ouma who is proud and happy for the reality of her marriage. A story that strives to be close and personal to the subjects in volved, without sounding biased and condemning. In pictures and words, the story follows her from the last moments of her singlehood to after when she becomes a housewife.
According to NGOs, the issue of child marriage, along with Africa’s other problems such as poverty, illiteracy, high birthrate and high infant mortality rate, are all a part of this continent’s great dilemma.
