In Zimbabwe, where girls as young as 10 are forced to marry thanks to poverty or traditional and non-secular practices, a teenage taekwondo enthusiast is using the game to offer girls in an impoverished community a fighting chance at life. “Not many of us do taekwondo here, so it’s fascinating for the women, both married and single. I exploit it to urge their attention,” said 17-year old Natsiraishe Maritsa, a martial arts fan since the age of 5, who is now using taekwondo to rally young girls and mothers to hitch hands and fight child marriage.
They strictly follow her. They follow her instructions to kick, strike, stretch, punch and spar. After class, they mention the risks of kid marriage. One after the opposite, they narrated how they face verbal and physical abuse, marital rape, pregnancy-related health complications and hunger.
Data source: Al Jazeera
