Tag Archives: children’s rights

[Video] Melka’s story: Child bride to advocate for girls

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Matthew Brennan in Partnerships

Melka's story: Child bride to advocate for girls | World Vision Blog

We first brought you the story of Melka in Ethiopia last year. Today, we’re excited to present this video depiction of the remarkable young woman’s journey. Melka was 14 years old when, to her surprise, her parents married her off to an older man from another village whom she didn’t even know. When Melka resisted him later that evening, he and his friends beat her severely. She woke up in the hospital....

Only a child, but already a man

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Janice Evidente in Stories

More than 10,000 Cambodians cross the border into Thailand every day to earn a living. Among the throng of workers and peddlers are children like Horm, who gathers recyclable trash and sells his gleanings at Rong Kluea market. He is only 10, but he already works like a man. Between his rounds, he drops by a World Vision learning center to play. It is at this center where he experiences just a few moments of being a child....

The right to have a name

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Ernesto Nieto in Advocacy, Child Sponsorship

The national identity card is helping to ensure that children from the Miramar community in Peru have access to their fundamental rights — like medical care and community programs. Carmen shares how this piece of identification has changed her life — and the lives of her children....

Q&A with an [almost] child bride

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Lipy Mary Rodrigues in Advocacy

Shapla in Bangladesh was devastated when her parents arranged a marriage that would force her to drop out of school. But thanks to World Vision, when Shapla told her friends about her situation, they knew what to do. Shapla’s friends had completed a life-skills education course, and they were able to contact community leaders, who advocated for Shapla. Read on to learn how Shapla escaped what she calls the “cave of death” — and how her story represents World Vision’s efforts to create futures of dignity and hope for girls and women....

Is chocolate your guilty pleasure?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Jesse Eaves in Partnerships

Abdul is 10 years old. While many children his age are in school, Abdul spends his days harvesting a bean that is an essential ingredient to a symbol of decadence, love, and happiness in the western world. But to him, it represents pain, toil, and sadness. Abdul is a child slave working on a cocoa farm in Cote D’Ivoire — where 35 percent of the world’s cocoa originates — to make the chocolate you and I love. Abdul has never tasted chocolate. He says he does not even know how cocoa beans are used....