Tanzanian helpline reaching thousands of at-risk women and girls every day
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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – It was 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon when Grace, a counsellor at the National Child Helpline in Tanzania, received a call from a concerned teacher in Msalala, Shinyanga Region. One of the teacher’s brightest students, 13-year-old Eliza , had not turned up for school that day, and she had heard worrying rumours that Eliza’s parents intended to marry her off. The parents had purportedly accepted a dowry payment from the family of the groom – who was a 35-year-old man.
“I was very scared on behalf of the poor child. I felt her pain,” Grace told UNFPA. “But I told myself I should be strong for that child, and I made several calls just to make sure that someone with authority would step up and stop the marriage.”
Tanzania
Dar-es-salaam
Shinyanga-region
Shinyanga
United-republic-of-tanzania
Samia-suluhu
Natalia-kanem
Michael-marwa
Samia-suluhu-hassan
National-child-helpline
United-republic
C-sema-head