Syrian Refugee Girls Enter Child Marriages for Security

Two years of conflict has created many refugees

Nine Syrian refugee women gather in the living room of a house on the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Jdeideh in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. Most of the women are teenagers; the only two adults look to be in their 40s. They're all dressed neatly, and everybody seems healthy and well fed. According to them, though, that wasn't always the case.

"When we left Syria, we slept in the street, all of us…we had nothing to eat," says Maya, one of the younger girls. "We ate hunger."

At 14, Maya is the most striking of the group, with unusual light blue eyes in a round face. She says she's just been engaged to a wealthy Lebanese man from the town, but she's dreading the union because her future husband is 45 years old.