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Saturday, March 19, 2011

"I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced" by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui

This is the autobiography of the youngest person ever granted a divorce.  Nujood and her impoverished family live in Yemen where arranged marriages for girls are the norm, but she fights back by leaving her abusive, much older husband and obtaining help for a divorce.  Nujood's family does not even know the birthdays or true ages of their children.  She's been told that she's about 10, but her father tries to use this against her by saying that she's really 13 when she begins divorce proceedings (as if being forced to marry at 13 is acceptable).  Luckily, Nujood finds a sympathetic female attorney as well as caring judges who help her obtain her divorce.  Her groundbreaking fight has encouraged other girls in arranged marriages to try to get their own lives back by leaving their husbands.  This part of the world and their customs are so foreign to me that it seems like a different planet populated by evil aliens who prey on the young and all females.  Amazingly, all of this happened just three years ago.  183 pages.

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