Laila Eshan
AUTHOR

Laila Eshan

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I WANT FREEDOM is based on true story about my personal forced arrange marriage that turned into 16 years of rape, physical, mental and emotional abuse along with becoming a mother of four children by the age of 26. At the age of 9, my sister and I were taken away from our mother by my father, who moved us to Germany with his second wife during the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979. After 7 years of the Cinderella experience with my stepmother, I was married off and sent to America as a 16 year old wife, unfortunately not to a Prince Charming. I was a prisoner in my own home. After enduring 16 years of being a victim, I had two choices: Continue on this path or find the courage to leave to be free and happy with my children. I chose freedom! Without any work experience and a 9th grade education, I achieved goals beyond my imagination as you see when you read my book. I wrote this book, I WANT FREEDOM, to support bringing awareness to forced arranged marriages worldwide. It’s time to shine a light on this barbaric tradition. This isn’t anything less than child sex trafficking or sexual abuse. Some of these innocent girls are as young as 5 when they get sold by their parents to a man as old as 60 years of age. Over 30% of these young girls can’t tolerate the conditions of such barbaric marriages with many end up committing suicide in the most horrific ways. Some light themselves on fire or get killed by their husbands. I had attempted suicide a few times during my 16 years of forced marriage yet somehow managed to survive. I’m sharing my story in the hopes of opening the world's eyes to know what happens to us after we are sold or given away to our abusers. I believe one of my life’s purposes is to bring awareness and help put an end to this old barbaric tradition. I also wish to bring awareness of this cause by sharing my story on the big screen. Proceeds from my book as well as donations will go towards my nonprofit organization to save, shelter, and educate girls that are trapped in these tortuous situations. I am a survivor and others can be too. In addition to my book project, I’ve created a non-profit organization, “I Want Freedom”, to support girls in forced marriages across the world. I am a proud mom of four adult children and grandmother of two boys and I’ve started work on a life long dream of becoming an actress.
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