Help urged to educate girls in Africa

IRISH women are being urged to play a leading role in lifting African girls out of poverty and into education.

The campaign, Because I am a Girl, is being driven by Plan Ireland, who fear more young girls will die in developing countries because of the global recession.

“The global economic downturn means girls in the developing world are the first to lose their jobs, may end up in the sex trade and are more likely to die young,” said its chief executive, David Dalton. “The recession has cost many Irish people their jobs and many more of us have experienced a drop in living standards, but in some countries it is costing people, especially girls, their lives.”

Former chairwoman of the Africa Centre, Benedicta Attoh, who came to Ireland from Nigeria 10 years ago, told how she was forced into a marriage when she was just 15 years old.

“Child marriage is modern-day slavery and we must do everything we can to stop it,” she declared at the launch in Dublin yesterday.

Her first husband was 25 years older than her and brought his first wife to live with them after a reconciliation. Ms Attoh was pregnant at 16 but lost the baby because of the physical violence she endured.

After having a second baby a year later, she escaped from the marriage. Her mother and a sister, who lived in Holland, helped her to go to university where she got a degree in education.

Ms Attoh and her second Nigerian husband decided to move to Ireland because Irish teachers and missionaries in Nigeria told her it was a welcoming country.

The couple live in Dundalk, Co Louth, with their six children.

President Mary McAleese has endorsed Plan Ireland campaign’s to encourage, people to sponsor one of 500 girls in West Africa or raise funds for projects supporting girls living in the world’s poorest countries.

President McAleese said it was important that a civil society like Ireland should concentrate on removing obstacles that threaten girls’ survival and potential.