Dailekh, January 4, 2017: Child club network in Dailekh recently participated in a unique opportunity– learning to act and putting up a play. Nine children from child clubs, three girls and six boys learned acting from local artist Ganesh Gautam recently. Children learned various aspects of acting for seven days, after which they staged a street drama. Acting teacher Ganesh had helped them script a play against child marriage.
The street drama was staged in Lalikada, Piladi, Sheri, Khadkawada, Rakam Karnali and Dullu Municipalities. The play focused on a young girl and how early marriage hampers her normal childhood and education. The children inserted messages of other negative consequences like physical and psychosocial stress on a girl. Parents, teachers, and community were actively involved in spreading knowledge about child marriage, national laws and act against child marriage during the drama.
Local trader Bhadra Bahadur, one of the audience in the street drama performance mentioned that street drama is a good medium through which we can easily spread awareness to get rid of child marriage.
The drama had some immediate effects – Engagement ceremony of a tenth grader from Piladi VDC was cancelled and the marriage of a 15-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl was stopped by the community.
Child marriage is a growing concern in Dailekh, a district located in Midwest Nepal. One hears of incidences of children being involved in marriages more often than not. There are no records about the actual numbers of child marriages occurring in the district though.
Text: Save the Children
Photographs: Hira Singh Thapa
