Kano, Nigeria Growing up in a family of clerics in northwest Nigeria, which has the country’s highest prevalence of child marriage, Khadijah was expected to be a young bride. “A girl cannot be more than 14 without getting married off,” she says. She became a bride at 13. But she ultimately did not accept limitations on her education, for which she “sold all my property to pay for my studies.”

Transcript:

My name is Khadijah Isyaku Muhammad. I am from Kano municipality in Nigeria’s Kano state.

I was married off at age 13.

I’m a member of the Fulani tribe and come from a family of clerics.

Even now in our family, a girl cannot be more than 14 without getting married off.

Yes, I can say it was an arranged marriage, because at the time, I could not differentiate between love and hate. I don’t know what love is.

His family didn’t follow our marriage customs, except they provided a dowry and wedding gifts.

I had not begun menstruating when I married. I started in my husband’s house.

I suffered a lot during childbirth, because I was young at the time.

We have three children.

INTERVIEWER: How many years were you married?

Eight years.

INTERVIEWER: Now that you are divorced, what are you doing?

First of all, I have to thank my God. After my divorce, I had a lot of success.

At first, I wondered how to go back to school, even though everyone in my family opposed it. They wanted me to marry again.

Then I sold all my property to pay for my studies. I studied mass communication because I really love journalism.