Tenneh Flomo is a seventeen (17) years old adolescent and teenage mother benefiting from the Let Us Learn project in Gbarnga. As early as 3 years, Tenneh’s mother dashes her to the care of her grandmother. Ma Nowai Issac raised Tenneh and the other siblings; with a small income generated from the sales of straw brooms, her grandmother began sending Tenneh to school. It was now Tenneh got involved in life. “My grandma didn’t have much to do everything for me, so I decided to find someone to help me”. She soon got impregnated and dropped out of school after just completing the 2nd-grade class. Grandmother, being frustrated, sent her out of the house to live with her boyfriend. Tenneh’s boyfriend died about a week later, leaving her to care for the pregnancy alone; he was beaten to death by unknown men who accuse him of stealing. “I used to go help people wash their clothes just to feed my daughter” According to Tenneh, she struggled to do casual labor work for years and at the same time watched her friends go to school and be productive while he stayed home. “I use to feel very bad when I see my friends going to school”

When Tenneh’s elder brother heard about Youth Crime Watch of Liberia recruiting adolescents to participate in a six-month TVET program, he brought her to register and participate in the cosmetology training.

The Cosmetology training under the Let Us Learn project has improved Tenneh’s skills. She now knows how to braid hair in different styles and is now on an apprenticeship at a nearby hairdressing salon in Gbarnga. Tenneh is a member of a cooperative established under the program and following graduation, Tenneh will receive a startup package that will aid her and her friends open their own hairdressing saloon.

“I am very grateful to God and to UNICEF for empowering me and very soon I will be a business owner. My friends and family will no more laugh at me. At least I can plait hair and feed myself and my daughter. I prayed that UNICEF to continue the program so other people going through situations like mine can get lifted.”