I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

This chapter is dated April 2, 2008. Nujood is in a courthouse, marveling at the chaos and the diversity of people surrounding her, from men in suits, to men in traditional rural garb, to women wearing niqabs, veils which cover everything but one’s eyes. She notes that the women are furiously talking about issues of childcare, justice, and human rights and that these words are foreign to her. One man is trying to recover land stolen from him. The chaotic scene reminds Nujood of Al-Qa Square, the heart of the Yemeni town of Sana’a, where her father begs for work with other unemployed laborers. This causes Nujood to reflect on how poverty and hunger turn people’s hearts into stone with “no time to feel pity for the fates of others” (14).

Nujood reveals that she is only 10 years old, although she notes that she is unsure about her exact age. She is scared, bewildered, and feels helpless and invisible. She wishes that someone would show kindness, take her hand, and listen to her. She has come to the courthouse feeling exhausted, contaminated, and ashamed, yet determined. In her own words: “No one has the right to keep me from seeking justice” (18). Nujood does not initially reveal her exact purpose.

Despite all of her negative feelings and apprehension, Nujood believes that courthouses are places where one can fix the problems of the world and seek help from judges, so she resolves to go on. She writes that when she ran away from her parents’ house that morning, she was set on changing her circumstances: “I promised myself not to set foot there again until I’d gotten what I wanted” (15). Her determination impels her to assert herself and ask others in the courthouse to take her to a judge. While she waits for the judge to see her, she prays to God and reflects on how she is a simple girl who has always obeyed the orders of the male members of her family. However, she has decided to change her outcome: “Today, I have decided to say no” (18). When the judge finally receives Nujood and prompts her to tell him what she wants, she resolutely states that she wants a divorce.

This chapter is devoted to Nujood’s childhood in the remote northern Yemeni village of Khardji, her family’s sudden move to the capital of Sana’a, and the daunting news of her impending marriage. Nujood describes Khardji as a tiny village at the end of the earth, with five stone houses far removed from medical facilities and difficult to reach with anything but a mule. According to her, this remoteness has a profound effect on her life and the lives of other women in her family. Because school is two-hours walking distance from their village, only her brothers attend. Her father sees no need to educate girls and is protective, as “danger lurks behind every cactus” (28). Therefore, like most girls in the countryside, Nujood grows up illiterate.

She and other children are delivered at home with the help of local women rather than at a hospital. Despite the fact that women like her mother are visited by family planning groups and provided with birth control options, and despite the fact that her mother is willing to take such medication, she often forgets them and suffers through numerous pregnancies. Nujood notes that this is the case for many women and that Khardji’s remoteness means that, “[o]ut in the countryside, people have bushels of babies without bothering with identity cards” (26). Many of them do not know their exact age.

Nujood states that, in her village, women are not taught to make choices: “It was with that same resignation that I at first agreed to my marriage, without realizing what was at stake” (23). Despite the fact that she chafes at this fact as she narrates, Nujood relates that she and her family live a happy life “to the rhythm of the sun. It was a simple life, but peaceful” (30). She is able to play with her siblings and enjoy her childhood while her mother runs the household and her father tends to his herds.

Everything changes when her family is forced to flee the village and resettle in the city of Sana’a. According to Nujood, she is somewhere between the age of 2 and 3 when the scandal breaks out and therefore does not know the details. As far as she knows, the scandal involves her older sister Mona. After a violent dispute within the village following a tribal resolution, her family has to flee and leave everything behind. Her sister is also hastily married at the age of 13: “The other villagers accused my family of having trampled the honor of Khardji and stained its reputation” (32).

Moving to Sana’a is a shock for Nujood and her family. Nujood describes the city as barren and filled with dust and noise. She notes that it is “a vulgar confusion of dismal concrete buildings” (33) and that she has nowhere to play in their slum. Her father is unable to find work to support their family and becomes depressed and dependent on the drug khat. Her brother Fares leaves the family for Saudi Arabia. For all of these reasons, her mother begins to suffer as well. In order to forget about the loss, Nujood writes that she withdraws into her dreams about the ocean and takes comfort in spending time with her best friend Malak. She also rejoices in finally attending school.

Nujood focuses especially on her older sister Mona, who is involved in the scandal which prompted the family’s move to Sana’a. She writes that Mona gradually recovers from the ordeal and comes to live with the family. She has two children and devotes herself to them, but it was “too good to last” (39). Something unknown to Nujood transpires between Mona’s husband and their older sister Jamila, and both vanish. Mona lapses back into depression, but she remains protective and sweet to Nujood and takes her window-shopping. It is around this time that Nujood is told about her impending marriage. 

The narrative returns to Nujood in April of 2008, at the courthouse and in front of a judge, demanding a divorce and stating that she has had enough of suffering in silence. Initially, the judge is stunned at the request because of Nujood’s youth. As she tells him about her husband’s beatings and sexual assaults, she notes: “I have the feeling that of the two of us, he is the one who’s flinching” (42). The judge is moved and agrees to help her. Nujood is immensely relieved that she is able to confide in someone and obtain help.

She hopes that the matter can be resolved quickly so that she can return to her family that night “without that fear of suffering, over and over, the same torment” (43). Her hopes dampen when she is told that this is a difficult matter that will take some time and may not end in a divorce. The judges explain to her that her case is both exceptional and complicated, because although it is common in Yemen for girls to be married before the “legal age of fifteen” (43-44), no girl has yet asked for a divorce. When the judges suggest that they find Nujood a lawyer, she expresses frustration at their inability to grant her an instant divorce and asks the reader: “Laws are for helping people, yes or no?” (44). Nevertheless, she takes them up on their offer to shelter her in the meanwhile.

Judge Abdel Wahed volunteers to take her in with his family: “[W]hat reassures me is that he seems like a real papa, who takes good care of his children. Not like mine” (46). Judge Wahed praises Nujood for her bravery, reaffirms her right to demand a divorce, and promises that she will not be sent back to her husband. Nujood is welcomed by the judge’s wife and daughter, and Nujood writes that she finally gets a taste of what family life is really like. Because this family makes her feel safe and unjudged, she tells them her full story.