During our Spanish class last week we discussed the case of the ten year old girl who had given birth in a hospital in Jerez. I confess that I had not picked up this story on the Internet so knew noting of the circumstances.
It seems that the father is the 13 year old cousin of the girl and that the two children lived together as man and wife in the grandmother’s house in Romania. Following the death of the father, the girl had been abandoned by her mother when she moved to Spain to find work.
The mother has reportedly said, ‘These things are normal in our country. Girls get married at ten so we don’t understand why people are so surprised. Elena is feeling very well, just like her daughter, who’s also doing very well and is very pretty.
Andalucía had 177 children born to girls who were 14 or under in 2008 – though no one can recall a case involving a 10-year-old. The youngest mother in Britain was just 12 when she gave birth whilst the youngest mother world wide was just five.
For parents of young girls, just contemplating this story is horrifying. Many will blame TV, films, magazines etc. for encouraging young girls to explore their sexuality. However, I hardly think in the circumstances that this Romanian girl was influenced in any way by the media.
The girl’s mother might be pleased but the rest of us feel quite sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment