Nada Al-Ahdal: a Yemeni icon who inspired the world's children
The Yemeni child Nada Al-Ahdal (photo: Bashir Saleh)Riyadh: Abdulhadi HabtoorFour years after the suffering that followed her refusal of her family’s attempt to marry her off, the Yemeni child Nada Al-Ahdal insists that she would take the same stand if time turned back, explaining that the decision she paid so dearly for opened the doors of hope and life to thousands of Yemeni girls who used to be thrust, while still young, into the world of men, without mercy or pity.
She was detained by the regime of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, pursued by the Houthis, then kidnapped by Al-Qaeda; none of this deterred Yemen's young icon from continuing her mission of saving thousands of Yemeni girls, and others around the world, from early marriage and deprivation of education. She founded the Nada Al-Ahdal Foundation for Children's Rights and is currently working on a project to help the world's children called "Safe Havens".
Nada, who now lives in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after turning down an invitation from an American family to adopt her in the United States, said that she preferred the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to live and settle in the Kingdom. She added that she is currently in middle school at one of Riyadh's schools and devotes a large part of her time to her human rights activism in support of children in Yemen and around the world.
Nada told Asharq Al-Awsat: "I decided that I would not marry someone older than me while I was still a child, whatever it cost me, as happened to my sisters and my aunts. What I feared most was society's reaction and how people would treat me, but what makes me happy is that I delivered a message and was saved from this problem, and that dozens of girls were saved after my story spread and society was made aware of the danger of marrying off minors."
Four years after the attempt to marry her off when she was 11, Nada remembers many things, among them her aunt's burns and death, and her sister's suffering.
She spoke about her kidnapping by Al-Qaeda: "I fled from the Houthis to Aden governorate. One night, after having dinner with my uncle in Al-Mansoura district, a car came and they dragged me into it by force. My uncle tried in vain to resist them, but they took him with me and blindfolded us, in a scene I had only seen in films. We drove for about two hours without any answer as to why they had taken me. When we arrived at an abandoned house they put me in a room where I did not see the light for 14 days, and there I realised that Al-Qaeda had kidnapped me on the claim that I was an agent of the West with ties to Western organisations that supported me. Their emir interrogated me alone every day, trying to get information. Among the questions he put to me: Where does your money come from? Where does your uncle work? And why are you against the marriage of minors? Every afternoon they also held lessons for us on the (Islamic caliphate), creed and other subjects." She added that the group threatened to kill her uncle if she did not cooperate with them, and that after news of the kidnapping spread in the local press she was released, by coincidence on the day the former governor of Aden, Major General Jaafar Hassan, was assassinated.
She noted that immediately after her release she headed to the Saudi Al-Wadiah border crossing, having received the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, even though an American family had offered to adopt her in the United States: "But I proudly accepted the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz to come to Riyadh."
Nada has launched initiatives to help children: she founded the "Nada Al-Ahdal Foundation for Children's Rights" and has worked on projects defending children's rights, including a project to be launched soon to help the children of the whole world, not only Yemen, which she has named "Safe Havens". She has also taken part in helping children in Yemen through the distribution of medicines and many campaigns in the field.
She explained that "Safe Havens" is an online project to help children around the world with three sections: relief, awareness and rights. The relief side focuses on linking hospitals with the community to help children; the rights side centres on solving children's problems; and the awareness section offers advice to children.
She said that one of the most striking moments she has lived through was when an 8-year-old girl in Sanaa came to her home asking for help because her family wanted to marry her off. She went on: "She was fully dressed up and said that her wedding was that day. I tried to calm her down, and the next day I went with her to the police, and the problem was solved by having her guardian sign a pledge not to marry her off." She pointed out that marriages of minors are taking place today at the hands of the Houthis, through minors being married to Houthi leaders. She continued: "I know a 9-year-old girl who is at the Al-Wadiah crossing today, fleeing her father for this reason, and if he catches her he may kill her."
She explained that her uncle has always stood by her, even before her marriage problem began, as she lived with him in Sanaa by agreement with her father, who lives in a rural village in Hodeidah governorate, and he took care of her education. She stressed that her relationship with her parents is excellent. She said: "After the case I went and stayed with them for four months as normal, and now I am in touch with them every day, and I ask God to keep them safe for me."
She stressed that her family has changed and that the idea of marrying off minors has left their minds: "Some of my sisters were engaged, and after my case the engagements were broken off. Today my family plays a big role in raising awareness in the local community against the practice of marrying off minors; my sisters have also been allowed to study, and many families in my village have changed because of this."
She mentioned that a French publishing house came to Yemen and printed a book about her story, the marriage of minors and what happened to her aunt and her sister; they asked her parents' opinion, and the book was printed and translated into seven world languages.
Nada hopes to help all children around the world, and the children of war in particular. She said: "On a personal level I dream of becoming a lawyer to help children. I am currently preparing to take part in many conferences in the name of Yemen's children, in Belgium, France and Switzerland, and another conference in Istanbul, where I will expose the Houthis' recruitment of children and the marriage of minors, as well as domestic violence, children dropping out of education, the destruction of schools and the Houthis' booby-trapping of the curricula."
Nada's uncle, for his part, said that he faced many difficulties: the Ministry of the Interior imprisoned him under Ali Saleh's rule, and senior officers accused him of harming Yemen by being in contact with international organisations. He said: "I had to contact the Minister of Human Rights to obtain protection for Nada, as she was held with girls accused of murder, rape and other crimes. I remember once, when we came back from Lebanon after taking part in some media interviews, we were stopped at Sanaa airport, our passports were taken and they asked us to sign a document never to appear in the media again. The Ministry of Human Rights informed us then that it was Saleh himself who had asked for Nada to be stopped."
