I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

This chapter is dated June of 2008. In it, Nujood finally learns one of the “family[’s] mysteries” (129), what happened to her sister Mona. She notes that she, herself, has grown tougher after her ordeal. Because there are no shelters for girls like Nujood in Yemen, she has returned to live with her family. She writes that “[a]ctually, we all seem to be pretending to have forgotten what happened” (130) and thinks that this is likely for the best. Her oldest brother Mohammed is openly upset and resentful at the attention she has garnered. Her family has moved to a house in a new neighborhood of Sana’a, and Nujood claims that she has started keeping a close eye on her sister Haïfa, her “protégé” (131), in order to protect her from suffering her previous fate. She feels empowered by her knowledge and the fact that she has a cell phone given to her by Hamed. She is also regularly visited by journalists and stunned at how her story has traveled internationally.

When Mona joins Nujood, Haïfa, a women’s rights activist named Eman, and a foreign journalist on a trip to the amusement park, she opens up about her past. She recounts that her husband and older sister, Jamila, had an affair. Mona ensured that they were caught in the act, and they were subsequently put in jail to face the death penalty for adultery. Although her husband continued to pressure her to sign a paper that would absolve him and Jamila, she refused on account of how much he has made her suffer. Mona is also in great distress over the fact that her mother-in-law has custody of her daughter and uses her to beg on the street.

Here, her story fills in Nujood’s gaps in understanding of why her family had to suddenly leave Khardji. In their youth, Mona is forced to marry her husband after he breaks into their house and sexually assaults her while her parents are away. Nujood is in disbelief and finally understands Mona’s fragile mental and emotional state. When their father seeks revenge and accuses his neighbors of attempting to harm him, the neighbors turn against him and drive their family out.

Mona reveals that Nujood’s marriage made her sick and that she begged their father to change his mind. She even visited Nujood’s husband and made him promise not to touch her. She bitterly laments that “he didn’t keep his word. He’s a criminal! Men are all criminals. Never listen to them. Never, never” (138). As the group plays on the swings, Nujood thinks on how her sister was “the prisoner of a fate even more tragic than [hers], trapped in a maze of troubles” (138) and how lucky she was to find the strength to rebel.

In this chapter, Nujood learns what happened to her brother Fares, who returns to Sana’a after his disappearance four years ago. In the past, Fares had contacted the family once to let them know that he was working as a shepherd in Saudi Arabia. As news of Nujood’s trial and divorce spread, Fares came across it and grew concerned for the family’s welfare. This prompted him to return to Sana’a.

Fares reappears at the front door as the family is about to sit down for a meal. The family is overjoyed the see him, and Nujood notices how he has changed from an adolescent into a man. She notes that his eyes have a harder, empty look and that he seems both exhausted and sad: “Where has it gone, the ebullience that suited him so well?” (143).

Fares relates that he left because he wanted to succeed, earn money, buy all the things that he wanted, and then return with his pockets full. Young and adventurous, he had heard that he could make a living and help his family from Saudi Arabia, so he set out and was smuggled there illegally. He reflects that he was thoughtless then and had no idea how hard things would be. He accepted a job as a shepherd and quickly “lost all [his] illusions” (149). His boss was exploitative, and in the end, he failed to save up any money. Unable to stop thinking of their mother in distress, he used all of his money to come home. His plan was to go back to selling gum in the street in Sana’a.

Nujood is shocked at how Fares seems to have admitted defeat. She writes that his escape inspired her own and that he had “given [her] the courage to fly with [her] own wings” (151). She feels that she therefore owes him and resolves to help him one day.

This chapter is dated September 16, 2008. In it, Nujood brings the reader up to date on her life following her divorce. Her primary focus is her return to school, “the moment [she has] so longed for” (153). She writes about dreaming about school, notebooks, colored pencils, and her fellow pupils. Nujood reveals that her nightmares have stopped and that she no longer dreams about her ex-husband.

An international humanitarian association has enabled her and Haïfa to attend school. Both are “insanely happy” (155) and nervous, and Nujood reveals that she aspires to learn to count to a million. She laments that school is not compulsory for all children, because if it were, boys like her brothers would not be begging on the streets. Reflecting on her faith and prayers, she thanks God for not abandoning her and asks him for help in school as well as for help for her family.

Nujood reveals that she and Shada experienced difficulties with getting her into school. Although she had the option to study internationally or go to a private school in Yemen, Shada had deemed them too extravagant and doubted that Nujood was cut out for them. Nujood chose a school in the nearby neighborhood of Rawdha so that she could stay with her family but also so “people would stop starting at [her], so that [she] would be treated like everyone else” (160). She hints at the fact that her fame made her life uncomfortable. She later admits that she does not want to continue retelling and reliving her story: “Like a puzzle finally solved, the words slip back into place in my memory” (161). In school, Nujood gradually relaxes.

Nujood reveals that she has thought about her future and formulated a plan to become a lawyer like Shada. In particular, she wants to defend other little girls like herself and raise the legal age of marriage. She also plans to stand up to her father, to wear high heels, and not wear a niqab.

Along with her aspirations, Nujood also reveals her fears and frustrations. She is still emotionally and psychologically scarred from her ordeal, but she cannot imagine going to a doctor per Shada’s suggestion. Meeting other girls in similar situations has helped her to feel less like an anonymous victim. She recalls meeting two girls, Arwa and Rym, who filed for divorce after learning about Nujood’s bravery. She is proud of having inspired them and “saw [her] misfortunes reflected in the mirror of theirs” (164). Along with feeling less alone, she concludes: “Khalass—enough. Marriage was invented to make girls miserable. I will never get married again, not ever again” (164). Despite these grown-up concerns, she still maintains that school has helped her feel like “a normal little girl” (167) again.

The Epilogue, written by Minoui in September of 2009, provides updates on Nujood’s life and the situation in Yemen at large. Nujood is honored in November of 2008 as Glamour’s Woman of the Year, an award previously bestowed upon Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice. According to Minoui, Nujood aspires simply to return to a normal life. Despite the fact that she is a little girl, Minoui notes that Nujood strikes her as “a real little lady, matured by her ordeal” (170). Nujood’s life remains difficult because of the international attention, the resentment of her family, and the illness of her mother and her father. As Nujood and Haïfa prepare to attend a private school, the hope is that royalties from this book will help the family financially and enable Nujood to study and establish a foundation for young girls.   

Minoui shares that Nujood’s divorce has “kicked down a closed door” (170). Because more than half of the girls in Yemen are married before the age of 18, and because discussing this was taboo, Nujood’s story has inspired girls across the country and given them hope. Moreover, her story has raised the debate on the custom of child marriage, the relation between the practice and Islam, and how best to approach the subject in more traditional, rural parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Nujood has inspired young girls and women, as well as organizations working within Yemen, to put an end to child marriage. Despite all of this progress, Minoui notes that change within the legal system is slow.

Minoui warns that child marriage is not restricted to parts of the Islamic world and that the reader should not simply “instinctively bemoan the fate of Muslim women” (172). She clarifies that this is a widespread practice throughout the world and something to confront in our societies. In Yemen, the practice stems from poverty, a lack of education, the culture of honor, local customs, and tribal politics. In order to end the practice, inventions have to be made on those levels.