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

Nujood Ali’s childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man three times her age. With harrowing directness, Nujood tells of abuse at her husband’s hands and of her daring escape. With the help of local advocates and the press, Nujood obtained her freedom – an extraordinary achievement in Yemen, where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age. Nujood’s courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has inspired other young girls in the Middle East to challenge their marriages. Hers is an unforgettable story of tragedy, triumph and courage.

I Am Nujood is aimed at teenagers but I would recommend it to adults as well. It is an eye-opening insight into a problem that is still rife in Yemen, to an extent that I had not even imagined.

Nujood is one of 16 children. As it is expensive to support such a large family, Nujood’s father decides to marry her to one of his acquaintances so that in one fell swoop he will receive a dowry for her and have one less mouth to feed.

Nujood is duly married to the man – she cries throughout her wedding day and falls asleep still wearing her wedding dress as she is so exhausted. Very shortly thereafter, she is made to move to the remote countryside to live with her parents-in-law, where she knows no one and cannot escape. They are cruel to her; they encourage her husband to rape her as they believe that is his right as her husband.

On a brief trip back to Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, to visit family, Nujood is given some cash and sent to buy bread. Instead, thinking quickly, she uses the cash to take a taxi to the court and courageously asks for a divorce. After an unprecedented legal battle, she is granted her divorce, becoming the world’s youngest divorcee. She inspired other little girls to seek divorces from the older men they had married, including an eight-year-old Saudi girl who had been married to a middle-aged man.

According to Girls Not Brides, 32% of girls in Yemen are married before the age of 18, and 9% of girls are married before the age of 15. Nujood explains in I am Nujood that there is no legal minimum age for marriage, only dubious promises that no sexual activity will take place until the girl is ‘ready’. In Nujood’s case – and no doubt in many other cases – that promise was broken.

Sadly, though, Nujood’s story has not continued in the optimistic way in which I Am Nujood leaves it. Her royalties for the book could not legally be paid to her so they were paid to her father, who used them to buy himself two more wives. He has married Nujood’s younger sister to a man twice her age, and Nujood herself was married again at age 16.

Child marriage remains a worldwide problem and Nujood can be credited with being one of the first pioneers of child divorce. I cannot imagine the strength of character it must have taken to even suggest a divorce and I hope her bravery is an inspiration to all child-brides to know that child divorce is possible.