Girl Rising Page #3

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We didn't know where he was going.

He said don't worry,

that it was a fast way.

Aya got scared and ran away

but I was not scared.

You were not scared at all?

No.

Why not?

Because I am strong.

I can fight.

He said we had to stop

at his house for a moment.

He said he had juice at his house too.

When we got to his house I saw

that his wife was there too.

So I didn't think anything

bad would happen.

He told her to bring us some drinks.

And then leave us alone.

There was juice like he promised but...

It wasn't good.

It tasted sour.

He was drinking some beer and I

don't like it when people drink beer

so I got up to leave.

But he stopped me and

said he would take me home.

We got back in the cart,

but he didn't take me home.

He took me to a very dark place.

He told me he would not hurt me

but that he wanted to be with me.

He wanted...

And I said...

I told him I was not

an ordinary girl.

That I was a superhero,

that I'm powerful.

But he did not believe me.

He drew his sword and told me

it was time that I should

fight for my honor.

And I told him that I

did not want to kill him.

Because a true hero does not kill.

He swung his sword at me,

but I was too fast for him.

I drew my knife from beneath my clothes

and let him feel the

sharpness of my blade.

He was strong, but I was stronger.

He was fast, but I was faster.

I wanted to teach him a lesson.

To show him that girls are...

And then we...

He just...

This man - he was a bad man.

And he left me no choice.

We fought in that dark

place for a long time.

He begged for me to spare him.

So I spared his life.

Your mother said...

there was blood on your clothes

when you returned home.

Yes, it was a hard battle.

Could you show me your knife?

I promise I will return it to you.

Why don't you go with Officer Mansoor...

and let me speak to your mother.

Hungry, aren't you?

Go ahead, eat this

delicious cookie.

It's good you didn't

kill that cart driver.

I'd hate to put a smart girl

like you in jail.

These are very difficult cases.

Very hard to prove.

Perhaps...

We can get you some money.

The man has a cart and an apartment.

Some means.

My God.

What are you saying? I would rather

die than touch any of his money.

She is my daughter.

You see how she was hurt.

I only want justice!

Justice?

Nowadays?

I'm sorry.

Yasmin, can you show us

where he lives?

Well.

You know, I have a daughter

a little bit younger than you.

But I'm afraid...

she's not as strong or brave as you.

Perhaps you should meet her.

I would like her to learn

to be a superhero too.

50% of all the sexual

assaults in the world

are on girls under 15.

50%.

The risk of sexual assault is one

reason parents keep girls at home

or marry them off young.

The man who raped Yasmin

is still free.

She has never been to school,

cannot read or write.

But is now engaged to be married.

And did we mention?

She's 13 years old.

Early marriage is the

future for millions of girls.

14 million girls under 18

will be married this year.

That's 38000 girls married today.

That's 13 girls in the last 30 seconds.

AZMERA,

Ethiopia

Look up! There is a child in the sky.

There are angels. There are

beliefs to chalenge,

wishes to be fulfilled.

And here is a girl named Azmera.

Feet grounded in Ethiopian soil,

in young girl's life. Her

eyes turn toward possibility.

Azmera - named for harvest,

golden crops, bounty.

Loved by family.

Intensely curious, painfully shy,

stubborn and kind.

Not yet 14.

Trapped.

Look up! There are myths

among the clouds.

A myth about a boy locked in

a prison tower with his father.

A famous maker of labyrinths.

The father made his son wings

from wax and feathers

and told him to fly out of the

window, to freedom.

Don't fly to close

to the Sun! - he warned.

The wax will melt and you will fall.

But the boy rose up,

flew too high,

and fell to the ground.

The burning Sun, the only

witness to his descent.

This is a myth. This is a

lesson about limits.

It reminds us that man

was not meant to fly.

We cannot reach the Sun with wings

crafted from feathers and wax.

And desperation.

But look! Here is Azmera.

She is in a life that is not a myth.

Living in a world with its own limits.

She is the only living

daughter of Etenesh.

My sister - she is called.

Etenesh was once the

wife of a loving man

and the mother of three -

a son and two daughters.

Azmera - her youngest.

Her life was full.

Then her husband died

and then her eldest daughter.

And Etenesh became a widow.

And a grieving mother.

Left with nothing to remind

her of those she lost.

No photographs, no drawings,

no letters.

What she has is Azmera,

and an older son - a young man

who loves his sister with the

same devotion as their mother.

What she's left with is the determination

to give her surviving children

what she can.

The elders warned Etenesh that

Azmera too would die

unless she was married young.

Give her hand - she was told.

Give her possibility.

A chance to live.

How much fear can one woman carry?

How many children can she stand to bury?

So when a man, 20 years old

and a stranger, came to ask

for Azmera's hand, Etenesh

opened the door and let him in.

She'd turn to the man and said:

"Here is my daughter."

And she held Azmera and said:

"Here is a chance, here is possibility."

"Go."

In Ethiopia this is how it was

done when Etenesh was a girl.

And when her own mother was a child.

And when her grandmother

was barely old enough

to do more than play

and fetch water.

Here it is said that if a

girl is married too young,

she is in danger of being

split by her husband.

13 is considered to be a safe

age. Though the law says 18,

Girls as young as 7

have been married.

What does it mean to split a girl?

Is it like tearing a photo

down the middle

while each half witnesses

the making of a ghost?

What if a girl's life could be more?

What if a mother's hopes

could mean something?

What if a boy could look up

into the Sun without falling?

Look at this young man.

He is not a myth. He is not

a stranger to failed dreams.

Meselu was the son

to a dying father.

He left school at 7 years old

to do the work of an adult.

A farmer who wants nothing

more than to be able to read.

He once tried to leap past

the edge of his world

and fly away from it all.

But here is the heart of

a man strong enough

to return to his

mother and his sister.

He was in the fields working the day

the man came for Azmera's hand.

He walked into the house and

saw stranger's talking to Etenesh.

And he knew what was happening.

Each of our stories pivot

on a single moment.

That short pause between

what is and what could be.

In a breath we can decide

between what we wish to be true

and what we can make happen.

Meselu said he would sell

everything he owned

to keep his sister in school,

to give her the gift of

a life with choices,

to give her chances he never had.

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