Enam’s story is only one of many . . .
When Enam was only 8 years old, she was sent to Lake Volta to stay with a very distant relative. During this time, it was normal for people to go this area of Ghana in her community. Little did she know, her life was about to change forever.
She worked processing fish from the lake while living with her relative. Over time, she began to receive attention from a boat owner. Very young, uneducated and lonely, Enam was taken under his wing as his own girlfriend. He received free sex from this young child, and she, affection, with the promise of a mobile phone and extra change. She became pregnant by the age of 13 and became described as a wayward child.
Enam was unaware at the time, but she had also contracted the Bilharzia disease while working on the lake, which then developed complications in pregnancy and led to a still birth at 13 years old. She had no medical help, had never been to any antenatal class, and had no idea why she had the complications she had.
Now, she is 19 years old and living in the Volta Region on the coast where we will reach out. Enam has a 3 month old baby, who’s father is another fisherman (he has no contact with her any longer). She helps drag fishing nets on the beach and in return receives leftover fish as a means of survival, her baby is very malnourished, and she has no access to resources to help herself out of the only life she has known, especially after being considered a wayward child in the community.
Enam’s biggest dream now is to give her son the life she has never had. She dreams of him going to school one day and living a happy life.
*Enam wishes to remain anonymous, so we have omitted an actual her picture from this post.
Why is her story important?
Her story is important because a lot of the hardship in her life could have been prevented, and her life WILL change.
Enam is exactly the type of woman that would benefit from the services and outreach of Mother’s Heritage. She is dragging nets, day by day as speak, unaware how much her life is going to change in the future . . . and she’s not the only one. By providing the opportunity to teach vocational skills to women like her, she and others will be able to survive and give her son the care he needs and a better future than hers. Through community education on topics such as: HIV/Aids, sex ed, nutrition, etc. our hope is to prevent some lives from some of the negative turns they would have taken otherwise, and ultimately improving communities as a whole, little by little.