(6/12) “It was time for me to face the truth: there wasn’t...

(6/12) “It was time for me to face the truth: there wasn’t a path for this kind of thing in Ghana. Photojournalism was not a way to feed my daughter. I stopped looking for stories to tell. I went back to weddings and events, and took any job I was offered. Later that year I was hired to photograph a program at the University of Ghana. The work was barely paid, so I remember not wanting to be there. But shortly after I arrived on campus, I noticed a tall foreigner with a camera. He seemed to be interviewing one of the students. I whispered to my friend: ‘I know that person. That is Humans of New York.’ My friend didn’t believe me. But I was sure, because I’d seen him interviewed on one of my online tutorials. I did what I always do when I see another photographer, I approached him to ask for advice: ‘How did you start? ‘How did you do it?’ But soon after we began speaking, he asked if he could interview me for his own project. To be honest I wasn’t very familiar with his work. So I wasn’t prepared. He began asking very personal questions, like: ‘What is your greatest fear?’ And ‘What’s your greatest struggle?’ I was caught off guard. Maybe because I’m so hard working. Maybe because I switch off my emotions, but nobody had ever asked me about my problems before. I told him about my daughter, and the promise I’d made so many years ago: to give her a great life. I talked about my journey with photography. I told him that I hadn’t had much luck so far, but that I’d recently gotten a half-scholarship to the International Center of Photography. Except I couldn’t afford to go. That’s when he said: ‘Show me your work.’ It was the same words that I’d heard from the woman at the gate, but this time I had something to show. I took my laptop out of my bag, and pulled up my photos from Kenya. He looked at them very closely, for a long time. He seemed very interested. ‘Would your scholarship still be valid? he asked. ‘If you were to find the money?’ It seemed to me like maybe something was going to happen. We exchanged phone numbers. But I wasn’t hoping for much, because I’d been disappointed so many times before. But then again, if something was to happen, Amen.”