Neighbourhood hero fights child marriage in her Roma community

PRILEP, North Macedonia—Orphaned as a child and pregnant by an adult boyfriend at the age of 14, Isabela was highly vulnerable to the fate that befalls so many girls in her predominately Roma neighbourhood: child marriage. But her life has taken a different turn, thanks to the tenacity of two women: her grandmother, and a tireless Roma-rights advocate named Nesime Salioska.
“We stopped a life from being stolen. Isabela’s story shows the importance of an intergenerational commitment to fight against child marriages,” says Salioska.