RIP
CHILD BRIDE SANAA YEMEN
Rawan died at 8 after her uterus was
ruptured on her wedding night Betrothed
to a man 5x her age No Action was taken
against the man 14% of Yemeni girls are
married before 15 and 52% before 18
At my office in the trenches of humanity
I was asked to bear witness Girls & boys
much younger than Rawan became child
brides & grooms in Toronto in large numbers
As I looked into their eyes many appeared to
be staring into space as if half asleep or absent
And I hoped that like *Shmuel in Auschwitz
these children: were able to convince their souls to
not live inside of their tiny bodies, but to slip away
and sail to the door, and rise up into the sky
Clamouring to get out only made it worse
One boy often said: Therapist you can hit me
with the biggest stick and I won’t feel a thing Go on Try it
__
Fall 2013 *The Boy In The Striped Pajamas John Boyne 2006
