Schoolgirl Alima Ka woke to hear voices singing and her parents by her bed, telling her they had bought her a dress.

A new frock… a luxury unheard of for teenage girls in rural Senegal.

But her joy turned to shock and horror when she saw the dress was a bridal gown and the singing came from friends and family there for HER wedding.

Alima, just 14, had no idea her father had sold her to be married to a cousin twice her age.

‘I was married at 14, it killed my dreams’: Scandal of the illegal child brides being sold to be wed – Mirror