Educate a Girl Save the World

I have always heard the African saying, "Educate a boy and you educate an individual. Educate a girl and you educate a community,"  but i have never quite understood the entire truth of this statement.  this morning i read an article in the Miami Herald, For Young Brides in Africa, Marriage Has a Price.  I must admit i have read several articles about young African girls getting married off and dropping out of school. But today when I read the article, i totally understood the the importance of educating a girl. 

Many families marry off their children because not only are they helping out their daughter but they are reaping some benefits as well (dowry).  But if African parent's can hold out a little longer they can get a more permanent benefit.  I truly understand that it is a hard decision to make:  food today or plenty of food in 7 years. 

If their daughters are educated then they can get good jobs in the future thus they will be able to provide for their parents.  Getting married early means bearing children early, dropping out of school, taking care of the children and maybe even helping your husband with farming thus becoming trapped in the cycle of poverty, exposing themselves to grave health risks, and contributing to a baby boom that's adding children to the continent by the second.  Early marriage doesn't only affect the individual but it negatively impacts the entire community, the entire continent within seconds. 

Girls who finish school bear fewer and healthier children, and are more likely to give their children more education.  As is true in the US, if you are educated the chances that your children get an education is very high. 

In the article, the young girl who refuses to get married goes to the 8th grade.  Of the 110 students only 10 are girls.  TEN!  That number brought a tear to my eye. 

By any means necessary the continent needs to remedy this problem.  More money needs to be invested into secondary education, as schooling can be very expensive and may for some girls be a reason as to why they marry; because they can not afford to go to school -- so what other options are they left with? 

What are your thoughts?


still chasing honey