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A disturbing tradition used to groom child brides for "marriage" is being turned on its head by young girls in Zimbabwe, who are rejecting the practice that instructs children on how to sexually satisfy their adult husbands.

"Nhanga", a local term for "girls' bedroom", was traditionally a female-only space where adolescent girls were taught obedience.

This secluded hut was used for "secret, musical rites of passage render young girls eligible for lobolo, bride-price negotiation," according to Thomas F. Johnston in his work The Secret Music of Nhanga Rites.

He explained: "Through song, mime, and mild forms of physical mutilation, the old women overseers of the Nhanga teach initiates how to please the husband sexually, and rehearse them in the duties of a junior wife:

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