Adama (right) together with Aminata. The sisters remain close.

Adama and Aminata are the inspiration behind the AdAmi Project (they are even our namesake - we took the first part of their names to come up with AdAmi’!). Sisters, Adama and Aminata fell pregnant within months of each other in 2017. At the time there was a nationwide ban on pregnant girls attending school and so, their education came to an abrupt end. Worried about how she would support two newborn children as well as her young nieces, their Aunty Martha drove them both out of the house.

Whilst their circumstances were different - Adama’s boyfriend’s family allowed her to move into their home, whilst Aminata was essentially left homeless - both were left feeling low and discouraged. Adama explained, “I sat in the house pregnant as my friends passed by to go to school, everyone called me a dropout.” At the time, they had come to believe that their futures were over, that they would never be able to return to school again.

Their plight, and the lack of appropriate services available locally to support them, would go on to inspire the set-up of the AdAmi Project, with Adama and Aminata becoming the first two young mothers to join our pilot project, which was launched in September 2018.

The first thing our local partner MEANS set out to do was to repair their relationship with their aunt, who was their sole carer at the time - they had lost their father at a young age, whilst their mother lived in a remote village and lacked the means to support them. Through a series of mediation sessions between the young women and the aunt, the team successfully brought them back together and Adama and Aminata were able to return to the safety of their family home, together with their newborn sons.

With their aunty outside their family home

Both Adama and Aminata initially opted to return to secondary school but Adama, keen to learn a trade, later switched to tailoring. As part of the project, they received weekly mentoring from their mentor Miatta and childcare support for when they were at school and training. The mentoring has been key for building their confidence and self-belief, especially for Aminata who had become extremely withdrawn and anxious as a result of everything she had gone through.

Tragedy hit shortly after they joined the project, with Adama losing her young son Alex to a sudden sickness, the cause of his death never confirmed. Sadly this is an all too common occurrence in Sierra Leone, where an average of 105 out of 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday (source: UNICEF). In the aftermath of Alex’s death, Miatta was there to counsel and support her through undoubtedly one of the hardest times of her life.

Adama remained on the project and successfully graduated from her three year tailoring course at the start of 2023. At her graduation event, the AdAmi Project gifted her a sewing machine in recognition of her commitment to the project; she is now using the machine to make a living and earn a decent wage working at a local tailoring shop and also for herself where opportunities arise. Adama has grown into a confident and self-assured young woman, who is now earning enough money to support herself and her family. She recently moved out of the family home, having saved enough money to rent a place of her own - she is now on the path towards an independent and bright future. Adama explains that “the Adami Project has made me who I am today. One day I would like to give back by training other young mothers to become tailors like me.”

Meanwhile, Aminata has just completed her final school exams (WASSCE) and is nervously awaiting her results. She explains, with a confidence and spark that is a far cry from the shy and withdrawn young mother the team first encountered in 2018, that she wishes to study banking and finance at university - “I hope to one day work in a bank” she says.

Adama and Aminata are now considered role models in their community, and often join the activities of their local Community Girls Network to share their stories and offer encouragement to other young women who find themselves in a similar situation. Asked what advice they would give others they say - “I would tell them to take courage, that life does not have to end after pregnancy.”

Five years on, they maintain a peaceful relationship with their family, including their aunt who has now joined them in becoming a vocal advocate for young mothers in her community. “I do not want other young women to suffer like Adama and Aminata did” their aunt says “let’s support young mothers to build brighter futures.”

We could not be more proud of Adama and Aminata, well done ladies!

Adama and Aminata - five years on!