Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Star of the Week: Zerihongua Muhenje

Home National Star of the Week: Zerihongua Muhenje

This week’s Star of the Week is 16-year-old Zerihongua Muhenje (right) who was courageous enough to speak out against her forced marriage to her 56-year-old husband with whom she recently had sexual intercourse. She relayed her story in the presence of her uncle who admitted to have given his blessing to the marriage. She was married off to the quinquagenarian husband when she was only 8 years old, and the timid Muhenje revealed to New Era that she only agreed to the sexual encounter because “culture dictates so”. “I don’t love him,” she lamented, with her eyes depicting great sorrow. “I just want to be home. He is abusive. He makes us work the whole day without giving us food,” added the teenager. Muhenje is not the first and is not alone in the struggle against cultural practices whereby children usually have no choice but to go along with the cultural dictates. As evidenced by the response to the story by the regional police and social workers in the area, Muhenje’s voice served as a wake-up call to the authorities, and the public, that action needs to be taken to stop some of these practices that society so often condone in the name of culture.