00:00My name is Nailah and I escaped a child forced marriage. My dad promised me off to my first
00:06cousin so I can be his little ticket out of Pakistan because I'm an American citizen.
00:12So my story begins with me being born in Pakistan and at the age of four I immigrated to the
00:19United
00:19States to be with my dad. I came along with my mom and my siblings. I slowly started to realize
00:26that I was different. I had to wear shalbar kameez which is Pakistani clothes. My culture was
00:32different at home. I'd go to school see kids wearing shorts with girls showing their legs. To me that was
00:38all foreign. As a child as a human being all we know is change and how to adapt. I was
00:43like I don't
00:44belong. I felt like I didn't belong and slowly as I entered you know my teen years I started rebelling
00:51and when I started rebelling and my dad you know he found out he didn't like it. I went back
00:57to
00:57Pakistan at the age of eight for a cousin's wedding and when I went back there even my mom didn't
01:03know
01:04my father promised me off to his older brother at the age of eight and said she's yours for your
01:11older son who was 13 years older than me. My first cousin yes who I grew up calling like brother.
01:18It
01:18wasn't for exchange or anything because my father didn't need money. He was just trying to help his
01:24nephew out because I had a passport. So what happened from there is the way I found out that
01:30oh my god I'm engaged is a bunch of teenage girls came up to me and they were giggling and
01:35they're
01:36like do you know what happened last night? I was like no. I was eight years old. I remember playing
01:40with like a goat. She's like you know you got engaged last night and I didn't know how to process
01:46that. I mean which eight-year-old can process that. I didn't think anything of it. I came back to
01:52America
01:52and started the fourth grade and had my first crush and that's when I realized oh my god I'm
01:58different because I'm already engaged. So I couldn't tell my peers. I couldn't tell anyone. It was an
02:04inside internal battle and what happened from there is I came back. I started you know junior high,
02:11started rebelling even more. At the age of 13 I went back again to Pakistan and when I went back
02:18they performed my religious ceremony. In the United States Constitution and United States Citizenship
02:25Immigration Services they considered that a legal marriage due to our freedom of religion laws. The age
02:32of marriage in New York was 14 years old with parental permission. I turned 14 and my dad made me
02:40fill out
02:40the first USCIS petition for my husband slash cousin to come to America. I know I didn't have to
02:47consummate the marriage. I'm 13. I had no idea but I was a little shy. I had no idea. I
02:53never spoke to
02:54my cousin about any of this because we didn't have that kind of relationship. I grew up in America. He
03:00grew
03:01up in Pakistan. I went through hell and back. The day of my wedding ceremony at 15 I remember you
03:11know
03:11in my culture the bride sits in the room at night and waits for her groom to come into the
03:17room to see
03:18her. He lifts her scarf up to see her face and then he gives her like a wedding gift. My
03:23heart was beating
03:24fast. I was like I hope he doesn't touch me. I remember putting these big pillows in between us at
03:30night. I just
03:31wanted the night to end. I was petrified. I was scared. I felt abandoned by my parents. For two and
03:39a half
03:39months my parents didn't listen to me. My dad left. My mom left. They left me with him. He took
03:45my passport. He took my
03:47phone. I tried a few you know running away attempts. The abuse kept going on and then one day oh
03:53my god
03:53there's some white people in our village like they were like there's white people here and they're
03:58looking for Nyla, Ameen and I was like oh and this white woman she came inside and I was like
04:06because he was sitting in the room and she was like can you go get me water? She's like because
04:10you're
04:10married we can't do anything unless you run away and come to the U.S. embassy. I was on lockdown.
04:16They took
04:17my phone. I couldn't touch the house phone. They had the brother's wife watching me. I was under constant
04:22supervision. You know my mother came back and upon coming back she was arrested for child endangerment
04:28because I was in her custody when I was taken away from CPS. My dad called my ex-husband and
04:34told him
04:35you need to let Nyla come back. They arrested your aunt. You need to send her back and it was
04:40one week from the
04:41date of travel but that was like the longest week ever and I remember on the way back to the
04:48airport
04:49coming back he was like you're not allowed to do this. You're not allowed to sleep over there. You're
04:54not allowed to do this. You're not allowed to do that and I'm thinking in my head like grinding my
04:58teeth like you monster. You're never gonna see me again. I got on a plane. It landed at JFK and
05:06they
05:06made an announcement. Everyone stay seated until Miss Nyla Amin gets up and I was like okay wait to
05:12you know put the spotlight. I was shy but I was like if I don't get up they're gonna find
05:16out which seat
05:17I'm sitting in anyways. So I got up and when the door opened it was like 40 government officials and
05:23this was like their first international child protective type of case and the first night I
05:29spent in a psychiatric ward because they wanted me to be safe and get checked out. They didn't want my
05:34parents to get to me. The next day I went to family court, went through the whole foster care system
05:39again. Eventually I turned 18. Life was very hard when I got back after escaping a forced marriage
05:46from Pakistan. Lots of foster care, lots of group homes, lots of therapy but I didn't want to admit
05:54something was wrong with me. I was like I don't need medication. I don't need this. I wish I would
05:59have
05:59started the work then and I would have healed sooner. Unfortunately I didn't choose this life.
06:05This life chose me. I wish I was an accountant or a lawyer or for God's sake a saleswoman. Come
06:12home,
06:12forget everything. When I started my organization I was 26 years old. At the age of 25 I was approached
06:20by
06:20a reporter from the Epoch Times who went into Women for Afghan Women in Queens, it's a shelter,
06:28and said to the director, I'm looking for a South Asian woman who is a survivor of a child forced
06:35marriage and who is willing to go in front of the camera. She's like I know a big mouth who
06:40doesn't
06:40shut up about this because I volunteer there. So next thing you know I'm speaking to her and we did
06:47the interview. It was eight hours. The amount of opportunities speaking at the United Nations, you know,
06:54speaking at different universities, changing the law in New York, having it named after me. I think
07:00I came a long way and at 26 I was like you know what I'm going to open up the
07:04first shelter that's
07:05going to house girls under 18 because when I was 16, 17 on the streets no shelter would take me
07:12in
07:12because I was a runaway from the shelters and they won't take you if you're under 18 and if you're
07:17not 18 you
07:18can't retain a lawyer either. So you can get married but you can't retain a lawyer. So the age of
07:23marriage
07:24was changed in New York from 14 to 17 in 2017. I had it changed to 18 with no exceptions
07:32July of last year
07:33and it's actually called Nylas Law. My organization is what gives me life. It's what keeps me going. People do
07:41reach out to me and tell me because of your case and what happened I was able to get out
07:47without my
07:48parents getting in trouble with the education loophole that you used in your survival case. People are using
07:55my survival story to rescue other girls in America. A lot of Middle Eastern girls we don't want to get
08:01our
08:01parents in trouble. We don't want to call the cops on them. So what they do is they say hey
08:05if you're not
08:06if your child's not in school we got to take her away and put her in foster care and if
08:11the child says yes
08:12then she gets out. At the age of 17 I had my beautiful baby boy. I became an EMT emergency
08:19medical technician
08:21when I was 20 years old. What makes me happy and the hobbies that I have now is I love
08:26nature, I love gardening,
08:29I love my son, I love my kitten Aya, she is the cutest thing. I would love to open up
08:35my group home and my
08:36biggest dream is I just want a home of my own where I can just be myself. Hi it's Nylah
08:43thank you so much
08:45once again for hearing my story and if you want to follow my foundation it's Nylah Ameen Foundation on
08:50Instagram and on Facebook and if you would like to support our cause we do have a GoFundMe page you
08:57just put in
08:57Nylah Ameen and I think it comes up in Google. Thank you!
