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Dear Stan, This refers to Marie-Claire's recent article 'The bane of child marriage'. It reminded of my own story, narrated to me by my mother.

Although we survived, there were similarities to the case of Fawziya Abdulla Yousif, the married child bride who died along with her new-born baby at the age of 12, in Yemen.

My mother was married off at the age of 13, ill-treated by a stepmother who wanted to get rid of her.

She gave birth to me at the age of 14 and the birth was not an easy one and she had to undergo a Caesarean operation as her condition was so critical.

We often thank Dr Joshi of the clinic at Hubli in Karnataka, India, for putting his whole-hearted efforts into saving our lives.

Child marriage was considered socially acceptable at one time although nowadays in India there is a legal minimum age for marriage.

The arrangements had certain purposes and positive intentions. One of the main reasons for child marriage was to allow a girl to become well adapted to a new family environment and to build a good and healthy relationship with the boy and other family members, since in India, at that time, joint families were common place.

It was also meant to create a homely atmosphere for the bride to feel that she was really not away from her parent's home but could continue growing up and adapting to the traditions and customs of the bridegroom's family.

The aim was for the bride to grow up with chastity and divinity along with the love and care of her in-laws as well as developing a certain sense of responsibility in looking after the house and its activities.

But the ancient 'child marriage' system became misused by people with vested interests, for example like the stepmother 'marrying off' her step children at a tender age, parents not affording to maintain their daughters, greed for money etc. And, ultimately this system turned out to be one of the devils of the society.

I often wonder how my mother survived the ordeal of the delivery of a late and large baby at such a tender age.

The fact that my mother beat the odds and survived her ordeal makes me think that God himself must have helped and not just left it to nature.

Hence I refer to her as 'My God-made mother'.

Seturam Aspari, Adliya.

Dear Stan,

The Awali Football Club (AFC) has a tradition of staging a wonderful and elaborate annual Halloween Party. Residents and members volunteer their time and talents to create a fun and interesting event.

All scary-costumed ones are asked to head to Awali on October 29 at 6.30pm where the clubhouse grounds will be converted to graveyard fairgrounds and kids and adults can hob-nob with the creatures of the scary world.

Prizes can be won at different Ghoulish games. A word of caution though, be careful not to wake the graveyard residents!

A trick or treat map will be given out and some Awali houses will welcome sweet scavengers after the party, although children must be supervised at all times.

Tickets are BD4 for AFC members and BD6 for non-members. Call 39691985 for further details.

Alfre Linton, AFC.

Dear Stan,

Like so many parents in Bahrain of late, I was running out of ideas of what to do with my daughter Hannah during the extended school break.

However, an article I read recently in GulfWeekly about the Dolphin Park made me remember our holiday in Australia where we also went to see a Dolphin Show. I remembered thinking at that time that it would be fantastic to swim with them, however, it was a rather pricey thing to do in Aus and anyway, it was winter when we were there, so it didn't feel all that inviting really.

But, to have the opportunity to actually swim with such amazing and intelligent animals would be just amazing.

So, I made a call to the Dolphin Park in Bahrain and booked Hannah a big surprise. We arrived at 9.30am and met up with the trainers; Valentino from the Ukraine, and Hani from Egypt, and were immediately impressed with their devotion and wonderful care of the dolphins.

Before being allowed into the water I read the instructions out to Hannah; these included rules such as not putting your hands over their blow hole or touching their mouth.

Then we were ushered into the pool, which immediately took my breath away. It was much colder than I expected and, of course, it was sea water and smelt just a bit fishy.

One dolphin (Boris) came over to me, and I held his fin as he took me or a ride around the large pool really very quickly. Then it was Hannah's turn, we went across to a smaller pool and in she got without hesitation. She was towed along even more quickly and then I also got in to swim with her and Boris.

To be so close and to actually be able to interact was just out of this world. Boris's skin felt just like soft rubber and to gaze into this magnificent creatures eyes and realise that it was just as thoughtfully considering me, was awe inspiring (though probably more so for me than for him).

Hannah and I played in the water with Boris for about 15 minutes and as we were getting out he swam in front of us, not wanting us to leave; it made us feel as though we had made a new friend.

We thanked the dolphins and the trainers, who were both courteous and professional, and left the Dolphin Park knowing that we were two very lucky people to have been able to have such an experience. I would urge anyone with a love and respect for our fellow creatures to go along and try out this life-changing experience.

Kevin Howarth, Budaiya.