With a background in psychology, I went to Ho as a researcher, facilitator and trainer, on Village Exchange Ghana’s Sexual & Reproductive Health Programme. I was to carry out qualitative research on the experience of teenage mothers in Ho Municipality, and to help train local volunteers to take over the project and develop it independently.
A few months prior, I had seen a photography exhibition at the OXO Tower, on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (now Sustainable Development Goals). The exhibition showed me what a powerful tool for connection photography is. Inspired, I left an unhappy job in London for rural Africa. The best decision I ever made.
My hope for the Baba Mama portrait series and essay was to show the real people behind the data I was collecting. To create a connection with young mothers and bring them the help they needed to reach their full potential, and for their children in turn to have opportunities to do the same. I’m so happy to report that this was the case. The production of a widely distributed calendar (including to all the women) raised awareness and therefore the much needed funds for the project and its programmes for young mothers.
Baby Mama - Ho Municipality, Ghana.
- "Would you like to go back to school?"
- "Yes, that is my dream." ('M' - teenage mother, Dome).
With 14.3% of mothers in the Volta Region aged between 15-19 years*, the chances of this 'dream' ever being realised is desperately small. While the support of the extended family is present for some girls who become pregnant in their teens, for many their reality becomes one of rejection and isolation. Incidences of girls being "sacked from the house" and ignored by the child's father are proportionally high. Pregnancy whilst in school often leads to expulsion for the girl or immediate elected withdrawal due to fear of peer and teacher reprisals. Added to this are tales of girls being raped and then silenced, sometimes by their own teachers or even family members; with little chance of acknowledgment or reprisal for the rapist but with the girl instead being blamed and sometimes disowned for the abuse.
Poverty and cultural perceptions of gender roles often lead teenage girls into what has become known as 'exchange relationships' - where girls exchange sex, most commonly for money to buy food, clothes and often school fees and equipment. The repercussions of these relationships can be seen in a further reduction of power for the girl as she sees herself as beholden to the provider of her material needs. She has little or no bargaining power with such things as contraceptive use, which leaves her vulnerable to pregnancy, but also to infections spread by her sexual partner, often having multiple partners. Lack of sex education and mixed messages about sex from within the home, community and church, further exacerbates the problem of unsafe sexual activity. Abortion is often seen as a means of contraception, even though stories of death or damage from illegal abortions are widely discussed.
If she gives birth to the baby a teenage mother is unlikely to return to school or to enter into vocational training: as well as the fear of stigma, the issue of poverty is even more prevalent now that there is an extra person to care for. More likely is that she will remain in the house or on the farm or engage in some form of street or market selling. In many cases the baby will simply be strapped to her back. Multiple births are likely to ensue and as such the costs associated with an education for each new child becomes less feasible. In many cases children will become market sellers themselves instead of going to school and in instances of extreme poverty it has been known for children as young as four or five to be indentured out to fishermen and traders. Young children are often responsible for caring for their younger siblings. The cycle of teenage pregnancy and poverty is hence likely to continue.
Yet despite all of this, the teenage mothers we have interviewed have all expressed hope for and faith in a brighter future, for themselves and their children. Through its health advice and counselling service as well as back to school, child-care and vocational training schemes, VEG and young mothers together are working towards realising this deserved and totally achievable tomorrow.
"You the woman also have to be doing something so that you not always sit down and say the man have to produce everything for you. By doing that there will not be any peace in the house."- M.
* DHS statistics.
NB This project was undertaken in 2006, so these stats relate to that time period. Please see more on VEG’s incredible work: https://www.villageexchangeinternational.org/presentation/
Testimonial:
“I had the pleasure of working with Elizabeth when she supported our Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme. Elizabeth undertook a photo essay for our website, which later developed into a calendar to help raise money for the charity. The photo essay was intended to provide a snapshot of life for women and young mothers in rural Ghana. Elizabeth developed the brief for the project to create a series of photos that showed much more than we had hoped. She worked in an empathetic manner, integrating well into the organisation and local community. Elizabeth understood the need for sensitivity, and created photos that demonstrated both the raw nature of the women's lives, as well as their humour and energy.
I would highly recommend her as a photographer and as a dedicated member of any programme team.”
Genevieve Hutchinson
Programme Manager
Reproductive and Sexual Health
Village Exchange International, Ghana