A CARE Community Volunteer in Ethiopia helps 9-year-old Dhaki escape child marriage, dropping out of school and a life time of poverty. After a suitor consistently proposed to Dhaki over a three year period and offered a substantial bride price, her father agreed to the child marriage. But when the village's CARE trained Kebele leader, Wario Djilo, heard about the marriage, he begged her father to stop it. Wario initiated discussions with her father and other community volunteers, and even appealed to local authorities to step in. But he still refused to change his mind, and insisted that his daughter drop out of school and become a child bride. Finally, Wario convinced Dhaki's father that early marriage has serious health risks for the child brides. He also helped him realize that child marriage would sentence Dhaki to a lifetime of poverty. Her father agreed not to marry her, and even signed an agreement in which he promised not to marry Dhaki before she's 18. Thanks to the training Wario received from CARE, he's the village's best resource for ending child marriage. He considers it his personal responsibility to protect all the village's girls from becoming child brides. Through public conferences, school awareness raising activities and school clubs, Wario educates the children and parents in his village of the dangers of child marriage, and guarantees that no other girls in the village will suffer the fate of becoming a child bride. Donate now to help other girls and women like Dhaki escape a lifetime of poverty, and your gift will go twice as far! Here's how: http://bit.ly/utO9A0