SHAMVA, Zimbabwe (AP) — Inside a white tent with a wooden fireplace in the middle, about two dozen African girls slipped off their shoes, sat on mattresses and prepared to pour their hearts out.

They held hands and their chants of “it’s so nice to be here” echoed through the tent before they set about discussing sexuality, child marriage, teen pregnancy, gender bias, education, economic empowerment and the law. Nothing was off limits.

The girls’ hangout in rural northeastern Zimbabwe is a revival of Nhanga, the local term for “girls’ bedroom,” an ancient traditional space once used to prepare adolescent girls for marriage. Across rural Zimbabwe, girls are now reinventing the centuries-old practice as a peer-led movement to resist child marriage, which is rife in the southern African nati

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