In Asha’s Community, Girls Were Married as Young as 10, Reports Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia (GFA) News, Wills Point, Texas

You’re 10 years old, enjoying your happy-go-lucky days by running around with your friends and playing games. But in a few months, all that will end when you assume the mantle of being a wife to a man you only just met.

What’s the point in going to school and learning anything besides how to take care of a home and a family if your fate has already been decided?

It is estimated that one-third of girls in developing nations are married before the age of 18—and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15.

In Asha’s community, they were married as young as 10.

“In their society, girls were not given consideration,” reported a Gospel for Asia-supported field correspondent. “They were believed to be a burden upon their parents. At the age of 10, they would get them married. Parents did not want them to study more, since they are going to be in someone else’s house after their marriage.”

Asha, too, had no regard for her education. Why would she when it was common knowledge her life would end up just like every other girl’s in her village.

“I never thought about studies, that I can become a better, educated woman,” Asha said. “I thought always that I won’t get good education, that I’ll be getting married, and I will go to my in-laws’ house … as usually people do in our village. So I didn’t have any hope or any future or any value of my life.”

But then something changed. When Asha was 8 years old, she was enrolled in a local Gospel for Asia-supported Bridge of Hope center where she learned that boys and girls are equal, that girls can become great leaders in their communities. Through the love, care and teaching of the Bridge of Hope staff, Asha realized her life as a woman does have value—and she began to dream of a world beyond household chores.

Then Asha’s father took notice of his daughter’s change. He saw how Asha was improving in her studies, and he no longer thought about marrying her off. Instead, he also began to dream for his daughter. As a police officer, he worked alongside women and wondered why his own daughter couldn’t become like them.

“I used to think about my daughter that after teaching her maybe [up to] 10th or 8th grade, I will get her married and she will go to her in-laws’ house,” Asha’s father said. “But now, when I saw her improvement in her studies, my view totally changed. I was so encouraged by looking at her. … It was a great thing that through her studies, my eyes were opened.”

Asha escaped the fate of other girls in her village. Instead of becoming a wife at 10 years old—and possibly a mother soon afterward—she was given the opportunity to study and finish high school. Because of Bridge of Hope, this young girl’s future changed quite drastically.

And many other children’s futures are changing.

In a post published by Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan, founder of GFA, he said, “It is one of my greatest joys to know that today, more than 82,000 precious children are enrolled in the [Bridge of Hope] program and are being loved and cared for.

“Maybe one of these days, the little ones in the children’s homes and in Bridge of Hope will grow up to become doctors, engineers or teachers. Wherever their lives may lead, my prayer is that they will grow up knowing God’s love for them and become strong, upstanding citizens, who will be able to serve and lead in their communities.”

For Asha, this prayer is becoming a reality, and we thank the Lord for that.

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