Ghana: The life of a 17-year-old in Takoradi

Is it harder to be a teenager now than ever before?

17-year-old Ruth moved to Takoradi, around a five-hour drive west of the Ghanaian capital Accra, when her father passed away three years ago.

Ruth's a single mum with a five-month-old daughter. She works every day selling chips at markets, earning the equivalent of between £2.50 and £4.75 a day, but dreams of one day training to become a police officer.

We spend a day with Ruth as she shows us what it's like to grow up and support her child in Ghana.

Being 17 is a series created by the BBC World Service and Radio 1 Newsbeat looking at how 17-year-olds all over the world spend their Saturdays.

Video journalist: Matt Wareham

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Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

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