An ancient tradition is helping girls in Zimbabwe fight child marriages

SHAMVA, Zimbabwe (AP) — Inside a white tent with a wooden fireplace in the middle, about two dozen African girls slipped off their shoes, sat on mattresses and prepared to pour their hearts out.

They held hands and their chants of “it's so nice to be here” echoed through the tent before they set about discussing sexuality, child marriage, teen pregnancy, gender bias, education, economic empowerment and the law. Nothing was off limits.

The girls' hangout in rural northeastern Zimbabwe is a revival of Nhanga, the local term for “girls’ bedroom,” an ancient traditional space once used to prepare adolescent girls for marriage. Across rural Zimbabwe, girls are now reinventing the centuries-old practice as a peer-led movement to resist child marriage, which is rife in the southern African nation.

“This is a safe space, every girl feels free,” said 18-year-old Anita Razo, who joined at 14 and now mentors younger girls.

In traditional homesteads, a round thatched hut served as Nhanga, a female-only room where girls were taught obedience, how to please husbands and moral education. It reinforced patriarchal expectations.

Today, the practice is being flipped. “The new Nhanga is a cultural innovation dealing with modern problems,” and where girls candidly tackle subjects still sensitive in many conservative homes, said Nokutenda Magama, a programs officer with Rozaria Memorial Trust, a nonprofit that works to empower rural girls and women and is behind the Nhanga revival.

Sessions include practical skills like poultry raising, farming and soap making.

The trust organizes gatherings by age group, from girls as young as five to women over 35, ensuring an age-appropriate curriculum and mentorship across generations. Elders, including senior government officials, are sometimes invited.

The reinvention comes against worrying statistics. One in three girls in Zimbabwe marries before 18, according to the United Nations Children's Fund, calling it “a national emergency demanding urgent action.” It’s a similar situation across East and southern Africa. Child marriage rates soar to above 40% in central and West Africa, with Niger, at 76%, the highest globally, according to UNICEF.

Zimbabwe and many other African countries have outlawed child marriage, even overturning laws prohibiting abortion for girls under 18, but poverty, lethargic enforcement and cultural and religious customs keep it alive.

For Samantha Chidodo, the revival offered a path back. Now 26 and a final-year law student, she was forced into an abusive marriage at 17 to a man nearly a decade older.

“All I wanted was to play and think of my future. Suddenly I had to be a mother and wife,” she said at a camp that blended tent sessions with a “girls and goals” soccer tournament.

“I didn’t even know what to do. I would be dead asleep, oblivious that I needed to breastfeed.” A woman next door would take the crying baby, feed him and return him to the sleeping teen mother, she recalled.

After two years, she walked away, enduring stigma as neighbors warned others not to associate with her. With support from Rozaria Memorial Trust, she returned to school and became one of the modern Nhanga pioneers.

“Initially we were only about 20 girls. Almost 90% of us did well, some went to college, others started projects. The community began to see our power, and encouraged their children to join,” she said. “Nhanga is now seen as cool.”

Today, more than 200 girls in her village participate. Many schools across Zimbabwe have adopted the model, which has spread to Zambia and Sierra Leone and reached African Union and United Nations forums.

Because child marriage is often rooted in culture and religion, girls sought the backing of chiefs and village heads — custodians of local customs.

Xmas Savanhu, a local village headman, said leaders now enforce rules against early marriage. Offenders must pay a cow as a fine held in trust by the chief for the girl’s education. “This ensures she can return to school without financial worries,” he said, noting that culprits are also reported to police. Chiefs also partner with NGOs to help young mothers resume their studies.

Despite progress, poverty and entrenched attitudes persist, said Enet Tini, a teacher and girls mentor whose school adopted the model.

She welcomed a government policy allowing girls to return to school after giving birth, but noted parents are often reluctant. “The gap that we have lies with the adults. They view pregnancy or child marriage as indiscipline so they think the girls should be punished,” she said, highlighting the importance of girls-led initiatives to change attitudes among themselves and the community.

Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, deputy executive director at U.N. Women and founder of the Rozaria Memorial Trust, called child marriage “essentially rape and sexual exploitation” and a worldwide problem, but “much higher in Africa,” where laws alone cannot end it.

“Laws are important … but it is critically essential to reach to the girls themselves, to do the shift in the social norms in our communities,” said Gumbonzvanda, who started Rozaria Memorial Trust in 2007 in honor of her late mother, who was married at 13.

Her message that solutions must involve girls themselves alongside policymakers and traditional leaders resonates with Razo, the young mentor.

“If we can pressure each other into behaving badly, then we can also influence each other to act positively,” Razo said.

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Eneti Tini, a teacher, speaks to the Associated Press, in Shamva, Zimbabwe, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)

Samantha Chidodo speaks as she gives advice to girls and women about early child marriages and teen pregnancies in Shamva, Zimbabwe, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)

Anita Razo, a 18-year-old girl speaks to the Associated Press, in Shamva, Zimbabwe, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)

Girls warm up for a soccer match as part of activities against early child marriages and teen pregnancies at a school in Shamva, Zimbabwe, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)

Girls and women sit inside a tent as they listen to their mentor speaking to them about child marriages at a school in Shamva, Zimbabwe, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)

MONROE, Wash. (AP) — A blast of arctic air swept south from Canada and spread into parts of the northern U.S. on Saturday, while residents of the Pacific Northwest braced for possible mudslides and levee failures from floodwaters that are expected to be slow to recede.

The catastrophic flooding forced thousands of people to evacuate, including Eddie Wicks and his wife, who live amid sunflowers and Christmas trees on a Washington state farm next to the Snoqualmie River. As they moved their two donkeys to higher ground and their eight goats to their outdoor kitchen, the water began to rise much quicker than anything they had experienced before.

As the water engulfed their home Thursday afternoon, deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office marine rescue dive unit were able to rescue them and their dog, taking them on a boat the half-mile (800 meters) across their field, which had been transformed into a lake. The rescue was captured on video.

Another round of rain and wind is in store for the region as early as late Sunday, forecasters said.

“Bottom line at this point in time is we’re not done despite the sunny conditions that we have across western Washington at this point,” said Reid Wolcott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

“There is yet more still to come in terms of in terms of wind, in terms of rain, in terms in terms of flooding,” he said. “And Washingtonians need to be prepared for additional impacts, additional flooding, tree damage, power outages, etc.”

High winds expected at the end of the weekend and into the first part of week are a concern because the ground is extremely saturated, putting trees at risk of toppling, he said.

In Burlington, a farming community about an hour north of Seattle, the receding floodwaters allowed residents to assess damage and clean up their homes.

Friends and relatives helped empty Argentina Dominguez's home, filling trailers with soaked furniture, ripping carpet and mopping muddy floors.

“I know it’s materialistic stuff, but they were our stuff. It’s really hard. But we’re gonna try our best to like get through it all,” Dominguez said. “We’re just trying to get everything off the floor so we can start over.”

In Snohomish County, Washington, north of Seattle, emergency officials on Saturday led federal, state and local officials on a tour of the devastation.

“It’s obvious that thousands and thousands of Washingtonians and communities all across our state are in the process of digging out, and that’s going to be a challenging process,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said.

“It’s going to be expensive,” he said. “It’s going to be time consuming, and it’s going to be potentially dangerous at times. So I think we’re seeing here in Monroe is what we’re going to be seeing all across the state, and that’s what’s got our focus right now.”

As the Pacific Northwest begins to recover from the deluge, a separate weather system already brought dangerous wind-chill values — the combination of cold air temperatures and wind — to parts of the Upper Midwest.

Shortly before noon Saturday, it was minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 degrees Celsius) in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the wind-chill value meant that it felt like minus 33 F (minus 36 C), the National Weather Service said.

For big cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, the coldest temperatures were expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning. In the Minneapolis area, low temperatures were expected to drop to around minus 15 F (minus 26 C), by early Sunday morning. Lows in the Chicago area are projected to be around 1 F(minus 17 C) by early Sunday, the weather service said.

The Arctic air mass was expected to continue pushing south and east over the weekend, expanding into Southern states by Sunday.

The National Weather Service on Saturday issued cold weather advisories that stretched as far south as the Alabama state capital city of Montgomery, where temperatures late Sunday night into Monday morning were expected to plummet to around 22 F (minus 6 C). To the east, lows in Savannah, Georgia, were expected to drop to around 24 F (minus 4 C) during the same time period.

The cold weather freezing much of the country came as residents in the Pacific Northwest endure more misery after several days of flooding. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate towns in the region as an unusually strong atmospheric river dumped a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain in parts of western and central Washington over several days and swelled rivers, inundating communities and prompting dramatic rescues from rooftops and vehicles.

Many animals were also evacuated as waters raged over horse pastures, barns and farmland. At the peak of evacuations, roughly 170 horses, 140 chickens and 90 goats saved from the floodwaters were being cared for at a county park north of Seattle, said Kara Underwood, division manager of Snohomish County Parks. Most of those animals were still at the park on Saturday, she said.

The record floodwaters slowly receded, but authorities warned that waters will remain high for days, and that there was still danger from potential levee failures or mudslides. There was also the threat of more rain forecast for Sunday. Officials conducted dozens of water rescues as debris and mudslides closed highways and raging torrents washed out roads and bridges.

Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes in Burlington, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

"E-man" Trujillo uses a jet-ski to pull his children in a canoe as the family's horses graze on high ground in near their front door after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

"E-man" Trujillo, center, uses a jet-ski to tow a canoe with his children Liam, 6, far left, Julissa, 15, and Benjamin, 5, third from left, as their horses take refuge on the high ground at their front door after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Floodwater surrounds a home in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Men remove a wet carpet from a house damaged by floodwaters in Burlington, Washington, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Vehicles are partially submerged after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region, in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Fracis Tarango mops inside her daughters' home damaged by floodwaters in Burlington, Wash., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

A man pushes a truck through a neigbhorhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

An aerial view shows homes surrounded by floodwaters in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Emergency crews, including National Guard soldiers, wort in a neighborhood flooded by the Skagit River on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in Burlington, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)