Divorced at Age 10 | Nat Geo Live

and this young girl is new Jude Ali who
is Yemeni and became at the age of eight
or nine her age was never made entirely
clear she doesn’t know it herself she
became the girl who busted open the
subject of child marriage for the entire
country of Yemen and internationally
when two years ago she walked into a
court house alone and said I need a
divorce and the uproar that ensued which
was a marvelous uproar she found herself
a woman lawyer who had taken on the
cases of abused women her case caused
tremendous controversy all over Yemen
and ultimately a sympathetic judge
granted her a divorce I love this
photograph so much I’ve seen many
pictures of new Jude Ali who did get a
good bit of international attention over
the years but never one that conveys the
joy that I saw in her when I talked to
her after her divorce had been complete
she was the most astonishing blend of
extremely wise young woman at the age of
11 and pure little girl well you know
let me sit in my in your lap and show
you how to eat the Yemeni food she will
go on she has co-authored with the help
obviously of an adult writer a book that
has sold internationally and wants to go
off and write for herself about the
harms of child marriage and the
importance of preventing it