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Feedback ForumUse the form below to send us your thoughts about 'Child Brides' or to submit a question for the producers. Please include your e-mail address if you'd like a direct response. Selected questions and comments will be published on the site.Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space. Poster: Josi Comment: Thank you very much for the story on child brides. You balanced the program with overviews and personal stories, which make the situation come alive for viewers. Taking an hour for the program allowed you to go into important depth. Bring back NOW for an hour ALL the time. Poster: David Robertson Comment: It is a great story -- very informative; however, you did not come with a solution, proposal or idea to cure this behavior. We can point to numerous ills of the third-world countries. We have to come with the solutions. Until we do so, it will be a program that will be forgotten after few days like many other programs from days bygone. Poster: Jennifer Comment: I, too, found your program about child brides to be quite thought provoking. I was only left wondering what became of the 13-year-old Guatemalan girl who was pregnant. Can we get an update on her? Poster: Lillian Leyba Comment: I couldn't believe this is happening to very young girls. I only wish I had a chunk of money to go over there and do something. We in the US can do more. I and others would like to donate some funds to send to this families, schools, hospitals, or whatever is needed for. Please reply as to what organizations are helping out. The girls will be in my prayers. Thank you NOW and to Maria Hinojosa for viewing this story. Poster: Maureen Comment: Overall, another excellent NOW program! But I thought the story of the woman rejected by her family was confusing and wonder why it was included. You gave us a he-said/she-said kind of story that didn't seem to illuminate the problem of child marriage like the other stories. Poster: Andrea Comment: Oh my gosh. This program blew me away. I cried, to see the eyes of these girls when they tell their stories. Their faces and the the way they carried themselves, even if you don't speak their languages, reveals so much. Yet I feel so grateful to them, after watching this program. I know that women's issues may manifest in different ways, they may be more pronounced in a country ravaged by poverty, but they are the same around the world. Thanks to them for sharing their stories. Poster: Laura McIlhennon Comment: I felt so sad while watching this program but at the same time there was hopeful moments. I have been across that lake in Guatemala (in Nov of 1990) and visited a village there. I found the people to be so friendly and the young girls were all so beautiful. Of course at the time I had no idea that girls there could end up as child brides. Thank you so much for this program! It has given me so much to think about. Poster: Donna O'Neill Comment: It was enlightening to know unless women are educated, upholding social and religious traditions will always prevail. How can I help? I would like to help in another way outside of donations. Organizations such as UNICEF and others' purpose is to help the countries on the local level. I think we need to come up with another plan that penetrates organizations to help women in these countries. One other way of doing this is to form relationships outside of community and country so they are not isolated and limited to what is there. Help these women better themselves. Go back to their community and make a difference. This can be done through exchange programs in homes and schools, sponsoring, adopting or a pen-pal relationship with a family or a child. Thank you. Poster: raj Comment: Let's see -- what this program really tells is that the West has removed the shackle of genetics and evolution and brown people are too dumb to do so and need the help of the West. So the West is not tribal but the brown and black people surely are. So all of them must be educated, then they all have to move to America to work as nurses, doctors and teachers for low pay. The West is not about to share the wealth. By its very definition the West needs all those 5 billion underneath them to be their servants. Using a hidden camera to show child marriage was really an all-time low. What you could not have said this is how Hindu marriages are performed but, no, the producers had to make it out like it was devil worship or something. Poster: Jerry Ann Campbell Comment: I traveled in Rajasthan and Jodhpur Nov. before last; I was breathless watching these child brides from these three countries. Do you have more information about the Jodpur Vierne school or the Niger school? I am a retired school nurse and teacher and would like to know more. Thank you. Poster: Rex Harrisen Comment: You should establish email addresses of these contacts and locations Africa, India, Guatemala and organizations so people have a way to help directly. Then we have a way to help. Every Program should include this in PBS. Poster: Noopur Pathak Comment: Hi, The last night episode was very nice on child marriage and women empowerment. People think that in child marriages girls are sent to boys' home right after their marriage. But this is not the case, girls are always sent with boys after puberty. The point which I think got missed in the episode is that mostly these practices prevail in old societies and cultures because these countries had very high mortality rate and average life was around 20 years. If someone is going to live only 20 years then they have to marry early to have the next offspring and then as the child survival rate was also low they had to think of having more kids etc. Though this issue of child marriage is been always in the books of social scientists and policy makers it is always hard to remove this old customs which later become traditions and culture easily. Poster: Heather Schwartz Comment: Hello, I watched your program, Child Brides, last night. I was very moved by the story of Habi, who had such a terrible time in her pregnancy and ended up with painful nerve damage as well as a fistula. I want to ask: Is she being helped with her medical problems and re-entry back into her community? Is there any way I can help her in particular? Poster: Bobbie McGarey Comment: Having traveled in India several times I've gotten to know many young women who are being educated. When I ask them questions about their future, their hopes and dreams, they are very similar to the hopes and dreams of girls in the USA. Therefore if we in this connected and global world need to look out for all our daughters and sons wherever they may live. We all have our feet on the same globe and hold up the same sky. Great report keep up the wonderful work NOW! Bobbie McGarey (The mother of a grown daughter and son.) Poster: Brian Kirk Comment: I just have to say that Maria Hinojosa is a treasure. I always liked her on CNN, and now that she is on NOW she has really come into her own. This show, Child Brides, was really wonderful in its focus and breadth. Not an easy combo. Please keep up the great work! I have many shows on PBS TiVoed and I always look forward to a brand new NOW show. Best Regards, Brian Kirk San Francisco, CA Poster: Meg Skinner Comment: Excellent program, of great interest to me. Having lived in Nigeria, Mexico, China, and spent time in India, I have come to believe that one of the keys to preventing early marriages/pregnancies is for girls to stay in school, and that in turn, one of the incentives to keep girls from poor families in school is to provide free school lunches. I therefore support an expansion of mandatory funding for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, part of the 2007 Farm Bill currently being mapped out by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Former Sen. George McGovern is very articulate on the subject, based on his experience with Kennedy's Food for Peace program, and World Food Programme of UN. Poster: OLIVER THOMAS Comment: This is not the first time I have heard about the worldwide problem of child marriage and the terrible results for most of these poor girls. Now I'd like to know the names of some of the organizations that care for them, so I can contribute some money. Poster: dale@wbhsi Comment: There are several active groups supporting the weavers of Guatemala. These groups help the women get fair prices for their weavings. It has also helped with health, education etc , empowering these women to take a more active role in there lives. What these groups are doing should be mentioned and encouraged. Poster: Shana Comment: Excellent!! Thank you for this incredible educational piece, it was time intensive and took a lot of work, but was so insightful, I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned something that widens my outlook on the world and what is going on outside of our sometimes insulated world. I thank you for taking the time to put this together. Poster: Asuncion Lavrin Comment: This was one of the most compelling stories about women I have seen lately. The tragedy of what is happening to children--not grown-up women--needs to be exposed and understood . I was so touched by the work of those involved in changing the situation--including the Emir of Niger. But women who are helping other women must received the highest kudos. Also, congratulations to Maria Hinojosa for a wonderful piece of reporting. She is a real treasure for PBS and should be given the highest marks for her work. When will she be the anchor of her own program? So far, all I see are anchor men or men in charge of their programs.Time to change the situation!! She should be more than Brancaccio's guest. Thanks PBS. I am buying the program for use at a center of higher education. Poster: Sheila McMahon, RN Comment: I have just viewed your splendid documentary titled 'Child Brides'. Your interviewing skills and sensitivities contribute to such insight on the situation for these children. Gratitude to all involved in the production. Poster: Heather Comment: I was very moved by the "Child Brides" film. I learned about arranged marriages and things like it but never thought it was like that! The film was very informative. I am going to be writing a letter about this and hope that someone will hear the cries of these innocent children. I am 18 and to think I could be married already would be horrible. I feel horrible for those girls who are forced to forget their dreams. Poster: Sara Comment: I, like many other people had never heard of this issue of child brides. I was appalled at how young the girls were! And it amazed me how their lives were changed SO much...I feel like there is a lot of work women still have to do in this world to be treated as equals..There is still so much discrimination going on that we aren't even aware of...And a lot of young girls don't have a choice in their own futures, simply based on their sex...I am unsure of what I can do, but as a woman I WANT to do something.... Poster: Sarah & Jesus Comment: We think Maria Hinojosa's documentary is honestly vibrant and real. We appreciated her interviews, her humanism, and her unique approach to the whole program. Thank you for providing us with such a special guide for this very difficult issue. We also think Maria is the best host for NOW. Poster: Vivian Ringo, RN Comment: Maria, Thank you so much for bringing this issue into the spotlight. I feel it is important for Americans, especially women, to know how blessed we are in this country. It is hard to believe this is the world we live in today. I commend you for your hard work and for highlighting the efforts being made to educate those less fortunate than we are. Poster: Marcia Sewall Comment: Such a moving and memorable program! How very fortunate we are. How great the value of education! Thanks! Poster: Eliana Garcia Comment: The NOW investigation on child brides should have been shown on every channel. It was heartbreaking to hear the stories of the suffering that young girls endure as a result of these early marriages. The ray of hope for these girls is in the movement to educate communities about the need to end this practice and provide girls with an education. All girls should be able to enjoy being children and have the opportunity to dream and most importantly be educated so they can achieve their dreams. This was truly a quality program that every American should watch. Thank you for educating the public about such an important issue and providing ideas for action on your website. Poster: Ann Hymes Comment: This year marks the 40th anniversary of my Peace Corps service (in Korea). I am now looking for opportunities for volunteer service during the month of February every year. Going to Niger to work with young women would be perfect! Teaching English is what I did and would love to do to support self-esteem and independence. Can you share organizations that would welcome this help? Thanks so much for the program. Poster: Liziane Comment: I was deeply touched by this program. I was shocked to know that these child marriages could exist. I couldn't control the tears seeing so many women in pain and living in fear, hopeless or with physical damages. I wonder myself what we could do to change this scenario. That's why I love public television so much. I don't feel I was just watching a show. I felt that I was part of the situation and responsible to do something to change. This program impelled me to take action. I thank very much all the people involved in this feature presentation. Iiziane Poster: Christina Wolf Comment: I caught the last half of this documentary and I couldn't stop sobbing. To think how many children and women suffer unneccesarily world wide! I'd love an update on Mamta but couldn't find one online. I'd love to see those poor, sad scared eyes of hers enjoying her new life and new opportunity at freedom and choice. I was also struck by the beauty and optimism in the eyes of the young woman that underwent fistula surgery. I am humbled and grateful for your work on this topic. It must change!! Poster: Cathy Smith Comment: Excellent program --- best NOW in a long time ---- more more more from Maria Hinojosa – she is EXCELLENT!! |
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