The world was shocked when a little 12-year-old girl began blogging about her marriage to a 37-year-old man.
The girls name is Thea and she’s a seventh grader from Norway. She is also Norway’s first child bride.
In her blog, Thea talks about the process she has gone through to prepare for her wedding. Things like picking out a dress, showing off her ring, even explaining how nervous she is to have sex for the first time with her new older husband.
The blog sparked Norwegians to outcry and protest the wedding which is set to take place on October 11th.
In the course of one day, the blog became Norway’s most read. It outraged its citizens and provoked them to call officials like the police and child welfare. It was the kind of reaction that Plan Norway wanted to see.
It was later confirmed that the Thea blog isn’t real, but rather a campaign to raise awareness for forced child marriages around the world..
“Thea” is a fictional character with a writer playing the role of Thea on a website that’s designed to look like a teen’s blog. The fictional life of “Thea” will continue until the wedding at Jacob’s Church in Olson.
It is said that approximately 39,000 girls are forced into arranged marriages. These girls have a much lower chance of breaking out of poverty, they are stripped away of their dreams and ambitions and they become the literal property oh whomever they marry.
Plan’s hope for this campaign is to get people to take action and put a stop to these child marriages. They believe every girl deserves the right to an education and to decide how their lives should go. It’s time for girls to be girls.
There are currently 128,000 people sponsoring children through Plan Norway. If you wish to take action and help out, you can join in here.
