wanted to see and get to know who my father was. So, at age 11, I got to know my father. 

I thought that getting to know and meet my father was going to lessen my mother's 

financial burdens, but I was wrong. My father continued to be irresponsible towards us, 

his children. [Diana] 

Most of the participants started to work during their teen years, usually after they had 

already dropped out of school. The girls' first jobs were mainly to sell small items in the market 

or  in the traffic.  For example, Karen said, 

Everything, sometimes handkerchiefs, sometimes polish. I used to sell in the traffic or 

sometimes at Katmanto market. . . If I sold one packet in a day I made a profit of 10,000 

cedis. [Karen]  

Participants said that they sold items such as corn, maize, water, shoe polish, kenkey, 

oranges, fried fish, ice water, and ground nuts. They reported making about 5,000 to 15,000 

cedis profit per day selling small items (7,000 cedis = $1 US, approximately). Over time, the 

girls described moving into better moneymaking situations, such as selling at a stall in the 

market. A fair number of participants managed to save money from these earnings to improve 

their earning situations by getting vocational training, for example.  

Those who attended some vocational training used their savings and/or the contributions 

of boyfriends or parents to pay the training fee.  

I always kept 5,000 cedis and used the other 5,000 cedis. I had already gone to ask the 

charge for learning hairdressing; they said they would charge 400,000 cedis and a crate 

of minerals and one bottle of liquor. So when I saved up to the necessary amount I gave 

the money to my mother and she bought the drinks and sent me to the hairdresser. 

[Karen] 

Karen reported that it took more than a year to save 50,000 cedis to begin vocational 

training. Vocational training was sometimes interrupted by a pregnancy and/or the inability to 

continue paying the fee. One participant who reported making more money than was typical said 

that it was her boyfriend who had set her up with enough capital to trade larger goods.  

Some girls who started working while they were still attending school said that their 

interest in school eroded because of work. For example, Lily said, 

She [mother] was a fishmonger and that was her main source of income. . . back when 

there was a lot of fish in our waters my mother was quite rich and we had no problems 

financially. I used also to sell, so whenever I needed something I bought for myself. In 

some cases, I even paid my own school fees. . . Well, I did [enjoy school] at a time when 

my mother was a bit wealthy, but when I had to sell in order to help educate myself I lost 

interest in school, so my performance was poor. [Lily] 

Another participant, Rachel, said that her boyfriend convinced her that school was a dead 

end. 

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