Child Marriage Around the World: Albania — Orkida

At 13½, Orkida Driza knew little of marriage but understood family obligations as a member of Albania’s Egyptian minority. Hers was to accept the match her mother arranged to a man almost twice her age with connections needed to save her sister’s life. At 28, she left him, taking their children, only to make a calculation similar to her mother’s. Now a 40-year-old grandmother in the capital city of Tirana, Driza is, as she says, her own man.

Voice of America reporters around the world focused on the worth of a girl to reveal how a young bride is valued by two families: the one she leaves behind and the one she joins. Explore the full project https://projects.voanews.com/child-marriage/