Child marriage should not be legal and most of all, it should not exist. The casualties of child marriage can really hurt the soul as you see many children, primarily girls bought and given away to pedophiles who are primarily men.

Now making headlines is the world’s youngest groom, Saneie Masilela, now 9 years old, who has renewed his vows to 62 year old Helen Shabangu. They married in 2013 when Saneie was 8 years old due to his deceased ancestors instructing him to do so. Based on the family’s beliefs they allowed it to be, creating a wedding ceremony with Helen who is already married to her adult husband.

You see in the video the Saneie and Helen share a kiss, PG 9 of course and the attendees cheer. Some villagers call it sickening while Saneie’s mother, Patience has no problem with it as she believes it to not be a real ceremony. It’s safe to say that outside of the wedding, both Saneie and Helen live their lives separately as a child and adult should.

What I noticed about this story was that the marriage was not based on monetary gain, social status or some sick and disturbing fetish. It was based on what we would believe is a superstition and was carried out. Saneie plans to marry a woman his age when he his older and Helen already has a husband and family. What stood out even more was that this was a boy marrying an older woman.

This story I would love to think would not be taken out of content and only given focus to a “wedding ceremony” being held between a child and adult. If we were to fixate on child marriage and not condone in this act, then we should turn our eyes to the many young girls who are pulled into child marriages, abused both sexually and physically and sold to pedophiles. This has been going on FOR YEARS.

From babies to pre-teens, girls are sold, stolen, and given away as child brides to men. These girls do not have a choice of who they’d like to marry as they are only viewed as commodities. Some have children of their own and die due to their premature bodies not being able to give life when theirs have only begun. Some child brides have set themselves on fire to be unattractive in the eyes of their husbands or male onlookers who may want them as a bride. Others have committed suicide.

Child marriage I hope will be non-existent hopefully if not in my lifetime, the next. The videos I have below were painful to watch. Saneie is quite lucky he would never have to endure such hardships. We must value a girl’s well-being just as much as a boy’s, for both their lives should be rejoiced.

Take a look at the new’s footage surrounding Saneie’s “marriage” and be sure to open your eyes to what’s taking place with child marriage concerning young girls all over the world.