Nobel Peace Prize contender fights for girls in Africa

DW (English)

American-Nigerian Zuriel Oduwole began using a camera at the age of 9. By the age of sixteen, she was challenging presidents and helping to inspire a law that aimed to end child marriage in Mozambique. Now, at just 22 years old, she is a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, but her true passion goes beyond fame: She wants to empower other girls to take charge of their own futures.

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00:00I started my filmmaking journey pretty young. As a filmmaker, I feel like it's a

00:17responsibility to use my platform to help share those stories.

00:30So I flew to Maputo, the capital, to sit down with President Felipe Nussi. I asked him,

00:45wouldn't you want all the girls in Mozambique to do what I'm doing, or to do even greater

00:51things? And he was quiet. And then 15 months later, Mozambique formally outlawed girl marriage.

01:00I honestly didn't know people were paying that much attention to the work that I was

01:12doing to even be considered for a nomination. Sometimes you teach unemployed young women,

01:23out of school students, this basic filmmaking skill that they can use to tell their stories

01:27and amplify their voices.

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