By Ishmael Zay-Bangura
Freetown, 28th April 2026- In a small, sunbaked community where tradition often speaks louder than a girl’s dreams, a teenage girl, Kadijatu Lamarana Shunem Barrie, made an impossible choice: her books over her blood, her father over her future and her voice over a wedding she never wanted.
Kadijatu remembers the exact moment her world split in two. Her father had returned home with news not of opportunity, not of school fees paid, but of a marriage arrangement to become a child bride.
“My dad came home with my marriage news. They wanted to get me into early child marriage from that tender age, and I stood for myself and said “No,” she recalls.
Kadijatu says after that, her dad started chasing her around, stating that the chase wasn’t just words; it was the suffocating reality of a girl trapped between obedience and survival. She had watched other girls disappear into early marriages, their school uniforms replaced by cooking pots and their laughter replaced by silence.
Kadijatu Tasted Something Different: Education.
Her father’s pursuit was relentless. When she went to sleep, he watched her, even when she left for school, he followed her. Kadijatu was a member of a club called Violence Against Girls during her school days.
At home, there was no safe corner of the house, no peaceful hour. “During that period, I came across girls’ show on Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) that spoke about issues affecting girls, and I sent a message and explained my situation.”
The home that should have been her sanctuary became a trap, so she ran away from her family. Fast enough to escape, fast enough to survive, but not fast enough to outrun the label her family gave her.
When a girl rejects marriage in a culture that expects submission, she doesn’t just say no to one man; she says no to everyone. She becomes a threat. A bad example. A warning to other girls. Pointing fingers became a normal reaction from her surroundings. “I was seen as a black sheep because I didn’t obey my father and didn’t get married at an early age.”
Kadijatu still loves her family. But love, she learned, does not always save one. Sometimes, it is the very thing you must walk away from.
When her family became strangers, strangers became her family. “When I came to Freetown, with the help of other people that I had no affiliation with, they helped me get through tough times. I became a beggar for my education,” Kadijatu said.
Not her father’s money. Not her family’s blessing. Her own fight was funded by the kindness of people who saw a future worth investing in. She announced with unmistakable pride during the friendly guide to the Child Marriage Act 2024 event at Brookfields Hotel, stating that she is a graduate, studied Gender and Development Studies at Fourah Bay College, with a 3.66 GPA. Not just passing but thriving, proving with every grade that her choice was not madness but wisdom.
Today, Kadijatu Lamarana Shunem Barrie is not hiding. She is speaking. She is receiving recognition and standing before younger people in her country. She thinks about the girls, who are still trapped, the ones whose fathers haven’t yet given them a choice. “A girl’s education does not just save herself. She lifts a nation.” Kadijatu stated.
If Kadijatu could go back to the time she ran into the unknown, her father’s voice fading behind her, she would not change a thing.
She fights against child marriage, not as a victim, but as a survivor, who is not with tears, but with testimony. Her message is raw, urgent, and unpolished because child marriage is not a polished thing. It is ugly. It is violent. It steals childhoods. And it only wins when good girls stay silent.
“I lost my family for education”, she says, a cryptic but powerful admission that education became her spouse, her partner, her lifelong commitment.
