Next week, the AdAmi Project will participate in the Big Give Women and Girls Match Fund. Launching at noon on Thursday 10th October, for one week only all donations made to our project will be doubled.

With your support, we can change lives. I have just returned to the U.K. after a wonderful week with our local partners in Sierra Leone. It is always an honour to spend time with the local communities and the young mothers we work with, and I was once again reminded of the huge difference our project is creating.

Take Christiana, pictured above with her daughter. Christiana was pregnant and had dropped out of school when our local partner, MEANS, met her in 2020. She had also been thrown out of her family home, leaving her to rely on a friend for shelter and help. 

A star pupil until she became pregnant, Christiana thought her dreams were over until she was helped by the project to return to and complete her secondary education. Fast forward to today and Christiana is about to start her second year of nursing at university, thanks to a scholarship from the AdAmi Project. ‘I am just so happy,’ Christiana says. ‘I love nursing. I can even care for my child better by prescribing her medicine and treating her at home. I can chase my dreams again.’

Our work is not only changing individual lives. It also builds community, facilitates friendships and support networks, and creates collective hope, as I saw in action at our monthly Circle of Confidence event. During the event, close to 100 young mothers came together to share stories and knowledge, sing, dance, eat, and celebrate one another’s achievements. At one point, a young mother stood up to educate the rest of the circle about reproductive health. Some girls laughed shyly as she talked openly about body parts, sex and childbirth. In the process, she was not just providing new knowledge and information but also tackling stigma and shame and creating a safe space for the women to talk, ask questions, explore and be curious. It is the first and only safe space that most of these young women have ever known. 

Of course, there is still much work to be done. The majority of these young women have endured a great deal of trauma and rejection in their short lives. I was reminded of this when I met Fatmata. Fatmata has a physical disability yet has never seen a doctor, so she was unable to even name her condition. She has lived in physical pain her entire life and walking even a short distance is an ongoing challenge. 

Many in Sierra Leone, especially in more rural areas, still view disabilities with suspicion, and so she has been continuously rejected by her peers and community members. So, when an older man approached her for a relationship at the start of last year in exchange for food and transport help, she readily accepted. Their relationship was a secret until she discovered she was pregnant. Then the man disappeared. She carried her baby to term, but sadly the baby, a little girl, died soon after birth. It is hard to comprehend how her tiny, fragile frame coped and the lasting effect this loss has had on her emotional health and spirit. 

Yet, thanks to the AdAmi Project, she now has hope. The other young mothers in her community approached her to offer their help, and today, she is an active member of the Community Girls Network. She is learning to become a hairdresser and has become part of a community she has never had before. She has been given a sense of belonging, purpose, and identity.

These girls deserve so much more, which is why our work is so vital. When the Big Give Campaign launches next Thursday, we have a unique opportunity to double all donations for one week only, doubling our impact. We urge you to please donate and will send an e-mail when the campaign launches to let you know how you can make a gift.

Together, we can re-write the futures of many more young mothers like Christiana and Fatmata. Join us in creating this change.

Thank you for your support.