Thea, a 12-year-old Norwegian girl, is like many other kids her age; she has hobbies, like riding horses and cooking. But there is one thing that sets Thea far apart from her peers: she is marrying a man old enough to be her father, Inquisitr reported on Saturday.
Thea has even made a blog outlining her life leading up to the point where she will say "I do" to a 37-year-old man. She has detailed all of the intimate details, including the dress she will wear, what deserts guests will be indulging in and what will happen on her wedding night.
But before outrage sets in, Thea and the husband-to-be have a surprise: none of Thea's story is true.
The story was crafted by Plan International, an organization that fights for the rights of children. Their Norway branch used the story to highlight the global issue of child brides and to raise money for the organization.
"We hope people will mobilize against child marriage by being girl sponsors, so that most of the girls facing Thea's situation every day can escape their brutal fate... Many girls dream about their wedding day and this day is often referred to as one of the happiest days of their lives. But for 39,000 young girls who get married every day, their wedding day is the worst day of their life," the charity explains, according to Inquisitr.
The campaign's realistic portrayal of the wedding has catapulted it to considerable success. The story has gone viral and her blog is being translated from Norwegian into other languages.
"The practice [of underage marriages] violates girls' human rights, curtails their education, harms their health, and sharply constrains their futures," Plan International writes on its website, according to the Huffington Post.
One in nine girls across the globe are married by the time they reach their 15th birthdays, and one in three are married by age 18. These girls are usually from poor families and are destined to remain poor, becoming property of their much older husbands, RYOT reported.
