By Eunice Naffie Mustapha
In life sometimes we live and sometimes all we do is survive. Life could be a bed of roses for some and for others a field of thorns. Coming from a poor background with another mouth to cater for, at age 17, Ramatu had to survive as a teenage mother.
Mothers mostly add light to the lives of their kids; however, for Ramatu that light was forcefully switched off by death when she was a little girl leaving her with a younger sister and a father that was jobless. She knew she was on her own, as she needed necessaries to survive. The minute puberty said hello, Ramatu’s source of survival became an older man (her boyfriend), which is not uncommon in Sierra Leone. Their courtship resulted to unplanned pregnancy, as she was having unprotected sex with no family planning practices.
At first, everything seemed rosy, as the man was around for 10 months. To her dismay, he vanished, leaving her with the responsibility of catering for the baby. Her supposed helper that was supposed to make life better for her instead added to her woes. The Salone story!
She struggled and found it difficult to cater for her baby. As she never for once thought her knight in armor would just disappear in thin air like a magician.
All alone and with a baby to take care of, Ramatu had to fend for herself and her baby. The only skill that she had was ‘hairdressing.’ She did not sit on the skill; she became the local hairdresser in her community in Makeni. By braiding hair, she could gather funds to narrowly make ends meet. From 2019 till date that has been her survival strategy.
For her that is not the end as she wants to perfect the skill. During her interview, she informed us that she has plans of enrolling in a training institute to improve on her skills. She believes in quality and the aim is to establish a renowned career using her skills.
“The government should ensure that sexual reproductive health and rights education or information is prioritized. Members of communities should take it upon themselves to duly advise kids, even if they are not theirs. I would have loved to be motivated to focus on school. Projects implemented by organizations should also be more inclusive, as we have situations where only those with connections could benefit as a result of the selfish nature of some local liaisons.”- Ramatu
‘I want to build my skills, as I want to be self-reliant. I would please need all the help that could be offered in getting items that would help boost my hairdressing skills. I want to be an Ambassador to work with the government and non-governmental organizations to talk to girls about the dangers of teenage pregnancy.”- Ramatu
Eunice Naffie Mustapha is a creative writer and a storyteller. She is a published author ( the author of Girlz Planete: Teenage Pregnancy). As the CEO of Nafisa Media Limited, she believes in using stories to inspire social change. At 23, she is a Sierra Leonean content writer renowned for submitting content to individuals and entities both locally and internationally.
Pikin Bizness is a Non-Governmental Organization set up in 2001 with the purpose of helping vulnerable children with health problems. The organization was founded by three philanthropists: Dr Adonis Abdoud ( Chief Executive Officer), Babara Bangura and Shelac Sunny Davies. The organization has sponsored many children with holes in their hearts to undergo successful surgeries in different hospitals abroad.
Girls + Sierra Leone is a non-profitable organization that is driven by community-level interventions aimed at providing reproductive health education and services to adolescents and young people in Sierra Leone. The organization was founded by Asmaa James with support from Plan International Sierra Leone.
Photo Credit: Moseray Koroma ( Super Mos Photography): +23278145373/ +23288914840
