In The Gambia, communities and faith leaders band together to protect girls from child marriage

Country: Gambia Source: United Nations Population Fund JARRA SOMA, The Gambia – Fatou Bah was still a schoolgirl when the future she imagined for herself began to slip away. She was in Grade 7, around 13 years old, in the town of Jarra Soma, The Gambia’s Lower River Region, when her mother died. Three years later, she lost her father. With no parents and little financial assistance, she could no longer remain in school. Family members pushed her to marry a much older man – someone she remembers