When considering motherhood, a wide range of women come to mind. My grandmothers, my mother, myself, and all the women I call ‘auntie’ despite no blood connection.

I also think of the women in Bissau who grind day in and day out, who would never let me pass them by without saying hello or let me leave their homes with an empty stomach. Or the older friends who continue caring for me when I feel lost.

Through them all, I began to understand what it means to mother beyond childbirth, and the labour that kind of care carries within our communities. Some of the women who have shown me the deepest meaning of motherhood have never had children of their own. Beneath what we usually recognise as mothering lies quieter work: care, memory keeping, and holding families and communities together across generations.