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| Mama Musu with her adult literacy teacher at SOS Social Centre Goderich |
Mama Musu revealed that she never went to school because her parents did not believe that girls had to go to school, as tradition dictates. In their eyes, early marriage was the answer and guaranteed a future for a girl. "I was very young when my parents arranged for me to get married to my present husband. I could not say no to their plans, so I went to my husband's home", she tells us.
Last January, one of the social workers from SOS Social Centre Goderich came to her and explained about the adult literacy classes and how they could improve her business [beneficiaries on the family strengthening programme who are illiterate first have to attend adult literacy classes before being trained in basic management skills]. "I wondered whether I could cope, since I never went to school, but I was determined to prove to people that my age would stop me from learning something new! I went for it!", she tell us. "When I told my grandchildren that I was going to go to school, the youngest one, six-year-old Emma, said: "Grandma is going to school, but without a uniform"", Mama Musu adds, amused.
Despite her age, Mama Musu continues to strive to support herself, her husband and the seven grandchildren in her care. She does so by selling fish and firewood at the market. She says the only business she has known in her life is selling fish and firewood. When asked how she copes with doing business and attending classes three days a week at the same time, she has says: "When I go for classes, I stop work and I start again when I come back. I do lose some money but I work extra hours at the market until it is dark. It is not easy but I have a family to care for!"
Mama Musu's family was identified by the family strengthening programme's team in January this year. Though she was and still is trying hard to make ends meet, taking care of seven grandchildren is not always easy. Food is not always there. Six of her grandchildren have lost their fathers [two of Mama Musu's sons]. Their mothers remarried and left their children to the care of Mama Musu. Once in a while they come to visit them and help out to some extent, mainly by paying their children's school fees. Emma, the youngest of Mama Musu's grandchildren, was not registered at school when the SOS Children's Village team first met the family to assess their needs. Though Emma's father [Mama Musu's only surviving child] is still alive, he's somewhere out there looking for a job and barely sees her. The little girl's mother is nowhere to be found. Ever since the family joined the programme, it has been receiving a monthly food allowance consisting of beans, rice and cooking oil to improve the nutrition of the family and its children in particular. Emma is now attending one of the community schools in Goderich, but unlike her grandmother, she has to wear a uniform!
Now, Mama Musu looks forward to expanding her business so that her income will increase. Then she will be able to take on more responsibility for her family, and particularly for her grandchildren. Once she has finished the basic training she's doing at SOS Social Centre Goderich on literacy and how to manage a business, Mama Musu will receive some material support and regular advice to improve her business. She explains that so far she has learnt: "how to save what I've earned in the bank, how to run a business on my own, to make the business grow and other things as well". "I can now sign my name", she says proudly! She also admits that for now the money she earns just provides for the family's basic survival. Nothing is left to expand the business at the moment. She strongly believes that if she is provided with business support and if she plans well, she could soon be independent and care for her grandchildren on her own, without the support of SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone.