Kiswendsida

Kiswendsida lives with her daughter, her grandparents and her aunts in the outskirts of a city in Burkina Faso. She got pregnant at the age of 14 and has been able to continue her education thanks to the support from her grandmother.

I got pregnant at fourteen. I was having a boyfriend who lives nearby. When I realized I was pregnant I told him and we could talk about it. My family reacted badly when they found out and now I don't see him anymore. I didn't have any physical problems during my pregnancy or my delivery. It went well.

When I was pregnant I continued going to school. The other students were not mean, they were supportive. But I did not know anything about how to protect myself and we had not learnt about it in school.

One week after I gave birth I was back in school again. I didn't want to abandon my studies. My grandmother has supported me all this time. She helps me take care of the baby so I can go to school.

It's hard to be a mother. I feel alone and miss my parents, they work in the Ivory Coast and haven’t seen the baby yet.

In the future I would like to have more children but not now. I think 26 is a good age. My dream is to become an architect and I would like my daughter to go to school.