Auckland-based wedding dress designer Trish Peng is partnering with World Vision to raise awareness and funds to combat the practice of child marriage in developing countries. Photo / World Vision
Auckland-based wedding dress designer Trish Peng is partnering with World Vision to raise awareness and funds to combat the practice of child marriage in developing countries. Photo / World Vision
With the launch of a new initiative raising funds and awareness for victims of child marriage, Trish Peng talks to Bethany Reitsma about why she got involved.
Trish Peng has been dressing Kiwi brides for just over a decade.
Now the Auckland-based designer is partnering with World Vision NZ to speak up for those whose wedding isn’t their dream day.
According to the charity, a girl under 18 is married every three seconds, with one in five girls around the world forced to marry as children – usually to older men.
Peng is now the face of the charity’s 1000 Girls child sponsorship social media campaign, launched this week to spotlight the practice in many countries.
“It just seems like a really good fit of using what my purpose is – weddings – to try and fight this, and just raise awareness,” the designer tells the Herald.
Peng recently celebrated 11 years in business, with her flagship brand, her preloved bridal business Yours Truly, and husband Tim Begg’s T. Begg Tailoring suit brand.
“It’s quite a milestone. It’s gone quite quickly, yet it’s taken its time,” she reflects.
Trish Peng, who recently celebrated her own wedding day, knows it's far from a joyful occasion for the victims of child marriage. Photo / World Vision.
Having tied the knot herself with Begg in December 2023, she describes her own wedding day as “magical” – but she now knows that’s not the case for millions of underage girls forced into marriage.
Before she was approached by World Vision, Peng says, “I wasn’t even aware of the fact that 12 million girls a year get married off. Girls – literally like 10 years old – children”.
The practice takes place all over the world – most commonly in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
According to World Vision, parents in these countries often marry off their teenage daughters to reduce the financial burden of paying for their food or schooling, or to pay off a debt.
Girls who are married off under the age of 18 lose the opportunity to get an education, often experiencing poor mental and physical health and even domestic violence.
Eighteen-year-old Neha, from Nepal, escaped child marriage at the age of 14 and has since helped halt three other underage marriages in her community. Photo / Ben Adams
“When they approached me, showed me the videos [about the practice] it was heartbreaking. I was like, ‘sign me up. I’m on board',” Peng recalls.
“They don’t have a voice, they don’t have the education to know all the facts. I’ve spent 11 years doing what I do, and now it’s time to make a change, make a difference.”
The project explores a different side of marriage from what Peng is used to. As a bridal designer, she experiences the joy of weddings every day.
“It’s a celebration of love, commitment, joy, and dressing a bride for the most beautiful version of herself. But these children don’t even get the freedom to choose their future, who they want to marry, when they marry.
“No child should ever have to be forced into that. It’s not just being forced to marry, but they’re forced into motherhood too – so they’re robbed of their education as well. It’s a complete loss of opportunity.”
Neha is now helping raise awareness of child marriage and gender violence in her community. Photo / Ben Adams
One story she heard from the World Vision team has stayed with her.
“There was one inspiring story I heard of, this girl called Neha – she escaped child marriage herself when she was 14. Now she’s 18, and she’s helped stop three child marriages in her community,” Peng shares.
The designer has since been inspired to sponsor a child through World Vision – a little girl from Uganda named Finella. Her husband soon followed suit and has sponsored 7-year-old Joshua from Uganda.
“In New Zealand, we’re privileged, you know – we’ve had the support, we’ve had the platform to choose what we want to do. So I think anyone here has a platform to help – just being in a first-world country, even just a few dollars goes a long way over there.”
World Vision spokeswoman Kate Elton told the Herald: “We are so excited to be partnering with Trish Peng to help more Kiwis understand not only the horrific impact of child marriages on the lives of vulnerable girls, but how through child sponsorship they can help bring an end to child marriage.
“As one of New Zealand’s most well-known wedding dress designers, Trish lives and breathes weddings. And it’s been incredible to see the passion she has for helping to empower girls across the world.
“Through child sponsorship, girls across the world are leading waves of change across their communities, standing up for their rights and choosing their own futures – it’s some of the most incredible work we are doing, and it’s so exciting to see young girls becoming changemakers, making a tangible, life-changing difference.”
Child marriages are a social practice that occurs around the globe. World Vision defines child marriage as a union (formal or informal) where one or both people are under 18 years old. Though some are as young as seven, they say it’s most common for teenagers.
Unicef estimates up to 650 million girls and women around the world today were married when they were under 18.
In Aotearoa, you can legally get married at the age of 18 – but 16- or 17-year-olds can marry with consent from a Family Court judge.
In 2018, World Vision partnered with the NZ Herald on a campaign called Not for Sale. As part of the campaign, two actors – a teenage girl and 55-year-old man – posed for wedding photos around Auckland City in a stunt designed to draw attention to the plight of child marriage victims.
Every three seconds, a girl under 18 is married as a child. Girls like Neha urgently need your help to learn their rights and stay in school instead of being forced to marry. Go to worldvision.org.nz to sponsor a girl now or text GIRLS to 5055 to donate $3 and help keep a girl in school.
