When she got pregnant at the age of 15 for a man who later abandoned both her and the child, Charity gave up on her future, consequently entering into an early marriage.
Explaining her case, Charity says while she was in the poverty rocked and abusive marriage, her only wish was a second chance to go back to school in order to secure a future for her child.
“I realized that without education there was nothing I could do and definitely my children would have to struggle on life to make it,” she laments, adding that her husband turned out to be an irresponsible young man who could not provide for the child.
While she was worried over the outcomes of her mistake, the Othakarhaka Foundation through the I Demand Access was supporting young girls like her in their village, providing them with opportunities to attain education.
“So with time, I decided that the marriage was not worth it and so I went back to my mother’s house. Later on I went to the Othakarhaka Foundation to ask for education support because I really wanted to go back to school,” she explains further.
Today , Charity is back to school with her mother offering to take care of her child while she is in school.
Since the year 2017, the Othakarhaka Foundation has supported over 500 girls who left their early and forced marriages to re-enroll into secondary and tertiary schools.