–– Tim Cantrell

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Amidst all the world’s bad news, good news was heralded from Sierra Leone last week about the outlawing of child brides, where one-third of girls are forcibly married off before the age of 18, leading to a high number of maternal deaths (because of premature pregnancy).  Child marriage is a longstanding, pagan practice in many African countries, with West and Central Africa currently leading the world with nearly 60 million child brides.  In East Africa, fathers in the Maasai tribe can give away a 12-year-old daughter, against her will, to a polygamist old enough to be her grandfather.  In the Muslim country of Mauritania, it is common in villages to find brides as young as 10 or 11 years of age.