Today, in rural areas around the world, thousands of children have been sold into marriage. Dragged off as young as six, kicking and screaming, and wedded to men thirty years their senior. Many will bear children at the age of 12, and most will die young.
Unless sophomore Mahie Solomon has anything to say about it. This year, she founded the club SEA BEEs, which stands for Saving Every Adolescent Bride, Educating, and Empowering. The club meets every Thursday and raises money to give to charities which will improve the lives of child brides.

Child marriage is a pandemic issue, occurring across the world mostly in rural areas in Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, and India. While laws exist to stop the unconsented marriage of underage women, in practice these laws are often unenforced. For example, some believe that up to 56 percent of Indian women were married before the age of 18.

Surprised? “It’s not a known cause,” Mahie admits. “And it has decreased as the world becomes more developed — it doesn’t happen in cities.” Nonetheless, it is troubling. And it’s hard to understand why it’s allowed to continue.

“They feel like they’re helping their child,” she said of mothers selling their children into marriages. By exchanging them for money, they have one less mouth to feed, and the chance of their girl going into a better life. Is the life of a child bride really better than extreme poverty? It’s hard to say. But the facts of low-age childbirth and abuse are undeniable.

Note, the club is not about trying to end child marriage entirely. “We understand it’s a cultural thing,” said Mahie. “So we’re kind of trying to give them a second option.” The donated money given to the charity goes to pay for these young girls’ education (schooling for child brides is nearly unheard of) and for their operations.

Operations? When a child gives birth, the body at age 14 or 13 or below is often so unequipped to go through it that it can result in a fistula, a hole between the rectum and the vagina. This comes with a host of medical problems.

“They can’t control their urine, they smell bad,” Mahie described. Fistulas can also lead to infections, kidney failure, nerve damage, and paralysis. “Nobody wants to be near them.” Fortunately, the operation to fix a fistula is easy and inexpensive. Unfortunately, western definitions of “inexpensive” are very different from rural third-world definitions of “inexpensive.” SEA BEEs raises money to provide for these operations, as well.

SEA BEEs, aside from meeting weekly in Room 205, does most of their fundraising through bake sales. Though most of their work has been in-school, they have gone outside. “We went to the town hall when the mayor was there,” Mahie said. “And we sold baked goods there.” Next up, she and club vice-president Jacquie Van Patten want to try putting donation jars in local stores, and soliciting donations from larger corporations. Their plans for the future? “Our goal for the end of the year is $500.”

For thousands of child brides in India, Africa, and beyond, that’s a good start.