Woman (30) Overcomes Child Marriage To Pass A-Level | She Was Married At 15 As A 4th Wife
A 30-year-old woman from Honde Valley, who dropped out of school when she married her sister’s husband at 15 as a fourth wife, managed to go back to school several years later and eventually obtained 20 points at Advanced Level in 2023.
Mary Mahati told The Herald that she grew up in a polygamous family. Her father had three wives since he belonged to an Apostolic faith sect.
She scored 6 units in Grade 7 in 2006 but had no one to send her for secondary education as preference for development was given to the boys while girls were being conditioned for marriage.
A relative took her to Selbourne Nyanga during the holidays where she started selling fruits to raise school fees.
Mary was, however, not ready when others opened schools for Form One. She later joined others at Sahumani Secondary School in Honde Valley after she had raised enough fees. She said:
It was so tough; I would work during the school holidays so I could raise money for fees and other necessities.
When I got to Form 2 in 2008, I failed to raise the fees. My hopes were shattered. I finally accepted that I could not continue with my education and went to stay with my sister where I was married to my sister’s husband as a fourth wife.
Life was tough. The family was big and resources were scarce. My brother-in-law later married two more wives and this worsened the situation.
I felt suffocated. Initially, I thought getting married was a way to improve myself but this worsened my life. I had no hope of returning to school. I only had one child and thought of going back home.
My father pleaded with me to stay in that marriage since divorce was not allowed. I reached a stage where I told my father I could die because of the life I was leading and that is when I went back home.
My mother encouraged me to go back to school. It was difficult to continue with school after many years of staying at home.
I again looked for employment and worked as a maid in Harare. After raising fees, I went back and enrolled for form three at Hilltop Christian Centre College in Mutare.
It was not easy during the first days as I was having challenges coping with schoolwork. It was in 2019 and the country went on a COVID-19 lockdown. I took advantage of the break from school to work and get more money.
Nevertheless, the following year I sat for the Ordinary Level and out of the eight subjects I had registered, I passed six subjects.
I then enrolled for A level at Muterere Secondary School. Although I went back to work, the money was not sufficient for the school fees.
Because of commitment, my brother who is now employed pledged to help me pay the required fees. He paid for my fees until I wrote the final examinations.
Mary obtained 20 points and is looking forward to going to university but her major fear is the high costs of education at the tertiary level.
She said she is still working as a maid and her wish is to go to university and study law.
Mary urged young girls and women to never give up on their dreams even if they become victims of child marriage saying: “It is important to get up, dust yourself and move on.”
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