Like many young people in Eritrea, Fatma Hamid’s dream was to complete her schooling, do her national service, and get a university degree. But her father had a very different vision for her future, one that he planned in secret. She took her life into her own hands.

One of 11 children, Ruth Kalenga’s father died when she was in her second year of high school. During this period, she fell pregnant. “We suffered with my child,” she said. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, her story is not unique. By age 18, 27 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 have given birth, and almost 5 per cent by age 15.

Narindra Solonjanahary, 19, is not your average teenager. At the tender age of 15, her mother forced her to marry an already-married businessman three times her age. “She said it was to support my little brothers and sisters as my father didn't want to help us anymore,” she said.