Too young to wed: Poverty and hunger are driving up numbers of child brides in South Sudan

Veronica was married at 14 and became a mother shortly afterwards ( Photos Bel Trew )

Veronica was just three years old when her parents, who live in a desolate village in South Sudan, “booked” her marriage to secure a dowry of a few cattle to feed their starving family.

There was little they could do when the groom, in his 40s, returned just over a decade later to claim his by then 14-year-old bride.