The Effects of Poverty

I come from a family of 7 children of whom I was the 5th.
Before the war which our country the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced in 1996, my father worked in a sugar company and my mother was in trade, unfortunately they lost everything during the war; my parents never worked again which explains the poverty which enveloped our family as a result at that time.

One day a boy came and then he came on to me saying he was going to marry me, which I refused because I wanted to continue my education. I remember I was sixteen years old at that time.
After my refusal the family of the boy who was approaching me for marriage came to see my parents to tell them that their son wanted to marry me and that they possessed the dowry if I accepted this boy.

To my great surprise my parents came and told me I ought to agree to the marriage and my reply was negative because I explained to my parents that my only wish was to continue my education. My parents had told me that there was no question of me being able to continue my education because they had no possibility of paying for this (my education).
My parents were not interested in my education at that time, for them it was essential that I agreed to the marriage so they could collect the dowry. They were convinced that the dowry would help the family out of poverty but me, I believed in my education. I can tell you that since my refusal I have had a very difficult relationship with my parents who refused to see me. My parents told me that education was not important for a girl, only my brothers had the right to study.

Since then my parents have decided that I should stop studying and I have had to do whatever I can to find the money to finance my education.

At the moment I am studying despite the difficulties but thanks to various conferences of debate arranged by CEDEJ, an organisation of young people I found out about in 2006, I can tell everybody who reads me that I have faith in the future and that one day my parents will see that I was right.
I can also tell you that there are many cases like mine here where parents, because of poverty, decide to force their daughters into marriage with the sole purpose of receiving the dowry.
Thank you.