Maku was born in 1964. She is a widow, the mother of Ivy and Alex, and a grandmother of two. Maku's husband died in 1993, and her financial situation has been very difficult since then. Like so many of the other women, Maku dreams of being able to build her own house and educate her children. But none of her children have received any form of higher education yet. 

Getting higher education costs a lot of money in Ghana. For a single, untrained mother it is almost impossible to afford. But working on the jewellery has significantly increased her possibilities for saving money, and Ivy is finally moving up in the education system. 

Maku herself has never gone to school. Before she began to produce jewellery, she bought vegetables and resold them on the market. Now she was able to afford a small piece of land herself, where she grows corn and cassava which she sells. In addition, she also sells palm oil, which she extracts herself from the fruit and nuts of the palms. 

Maku lives in an extended family house, which is a large centre courtyard house with a lot of approx. 15 m2 rooms, of which each family shares one room. The cooking is done outdoors in the common courtyard over a small fireplace.