child marriage is a global issue and has devastating consequences all over the world. at least 80 million girls under 18 will be married by 2030. stopping it isn t easy. we believe that when we educate just one girl, that one girl can be able to change her community. and changing cultural practices is even harder. in 2022, michelle obama, amal clooney and melinda french gates came together to announce a collaboration with the aim of ending child marriage. we ve been invited to their first field trip together, and they ve come to ludzi secondary school, in malawi. when i was your age, there were people in my community that didn t think a girl like me, who didn t have money or wealth or connections, could do the things that i did. i even had my second form teacher tell me that i shouldn t apply to the colleges i applied to because she didn t think i could get in. so i ignored herand i applied to princeton. i got in and i went to law school and became a lawyer. and i ve worked a
in 2022, michelle obama, amal clooney and melinda french gates came together to announce a collaboration with the aim of ending child marriage. we ve been invited to their first field trip together, and they ve come to ludzi secondary school in malawi. when i was your age, there were people in my community that didn t think a girl like me, who didn t have money or wealth or connections, could do the things that i did. i even had my second form teacher tell me that i shouldn t apply to the colleges i applied to because she didn t think i could get in. so i ignored herand i applied to princeton. i got in and i went to law school and became a lawyer. and i ve worked at a university, i ve run an ngo, i ve done all sorts of things. so i know that there are so many girls like all of us all over the world where people are underestimating them. they re telling us what we can t do. and i refuse. you know, i see my daughters in those girls. you know, we tend to think that poverty and p
every year, 12 million girls are married before they reach the age of 18 a practice the un has said will take 300 years to eradicate. now, three of the world s most high profile humanitarians have vowed to tackle the issue together. but is this an impossible task? i have come to join michelle obama, amal clooney and melinda french gates on their first field visit together to malawi, a country where 42% of girls marry under the age of 18, to ask them how bad the issue is and if it can be turned around in a generation. michelle obama, thank you so much for speaking to us at bbc 100 women. thank you for being here, it s my pleasure. we re here to talk about the work you are doing to end child marriage along with amal clooney and melinda french gates. why is that an issue that is important to you personally? 0h.i have said this time and time again. i see myself in the girls that we are fighting for. you know, i see my daughters in those girls. if we just.put ourselves in those
ourselves in those girls shoes and think of, how would we feel if it were us or our daughters that were married off at the age of 12 or ten or however old, and their dreams, their opportunities and aspirations were cut off completely, married to an older man, first forced to start having children way before bedtime, any of us would be outraged at the thought, and if it were our children or grandchildren we would move heaven and earth to make sure that that didn t happen, we would make sure we were protect our daughters and our granddaughters. and i can t. not feel that our granddaughters. and i can t. .. not feel that for every girl around the world. i rememberl every girl around the world. i remember i met some young girls in ethiopia remember i met some young girls in ethiopia a number of years ago in ethiopia a number of years ago and in ethiopia a number of years ago and they were between ages nine and ago and they were between ages nine and 11. i mean, you lo
Up at three in the morning so i could get a head start on the day i wrote down my daily schedule and to do list. I was still learning german on my doorstep i was its because im tough i wanted to make sure that my whole day was organized i read a lot. At the bookstore i used to buy books that i shop just around the corner from our house believes i want to find books to improve my writing skills. For letters and things like that. Ill try. It again i want to learn about cassettes and such so i can get some language cassettes or audio books. It was it seemed at least that i was really focused i was determined to master the
language quickly. I wanted to be able to get my bearings in a society that was still very new to me i was prepared to do everything i could to become familiar with german culture. But at the time i wanted to remember where i came from and the things that made me who i am. As adults my goals were to assimilate but also to keep my own identity. There philip is now a german