Meet our community members - Jennifer

If you have never been to one, it might be difficult to imagine what it is like to live in a rural community in Ghana. To give you a glimpse of what daily life in Humjibre looks like, GHEI introduces you to its community members in our blog series ‘Meet our community members’.

What are the hopes and dreams of a junior high school student? What do first-time mothers struggle with when raising their baby? Who runs the local drinking spot? How do GHEI’s local staff feel about their work? Read it here!

Meet Jennifer, Mother Mentor Program participant – Thursday, July 19th, 2018

Almost three months ago, on April 30th, the twenty-three year old Jennifer gave birth to her son, Kwadwo. The two share a bed at the house where she lives with her parents, her grandmother, and her five siblings.

Jennifer (middle) and relatives sitting in the courtyard in front of their house

In the morning, Jennifer gets up at 6 AM to fetch water at the nearest pump. The pump is only a five minute walk away, but getting water can still take a while, as the line gets quite long early in the morning. Kwadwo is usually still sleeping at this time. If he is awake, Jennifer’s mom is watching over him.

The rest of Jennifer’s morning consists of handwashing her laundry, taking a bucket shower, cooking some oats for breakfast, and bathing her son Kwadwo. “And whenever Kwadwo gets hungry, I breastfeed him”, Jennifer adds.

Baby Kwadwo in Jennifer's arms

In the afternoon, mother and son take a nap. After lunch, Jennifer spends some time playing with Kwadwo. Her husband pops by almost every day to play with his son. He also lives in Humjibre, but in a different neighborhood, called Canada. This neighborhood is located on a hill, and the people of Humjibre perceive it to be slightly cooler there than in the rest of the village. Thus, it was named Canada.

Jennifer receives a lot of support from her mom to take care of Kwadwo. In Ghana, the mother or mother-in-law of the new mother often play a big role in the upbringing of the child. They are considered to have more knowledge on how to raise kids because they already have experience doing so. The mother or mother-in-law are sometimes more involved in the child’s life than the child’s father.

Raising a newborn can be stressful for first-time mothers, but Jennifer can count on the support and advise of Lilian, one of GHEI’s Mother Mentors. When she was ten weeks pregnant, Jennifer joined the Mo