Child Bride Turned Scholar

Tererai Trent defied cultural norms that denied African girls an education and restricted them to a life in the home. Married at 18 with three children, Trent learned how to read and eventually earned three degrees. She returned to her native Zimbabwe to help build schools and work as a role model for other girls. You can read more about Terai Trent and see other clips at this CNN site. The NY Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof profiled Trent in his book, Half the Sky,and wrote about her in a column in 2009, noting that "... there are so many other Tererais out there."

Why does African culture deny so many girls an education?  This might be an interesting research project when we cover Islam in Africa in the contemporary world.