By Skylar DeBose
It feels surreal that we’re already halfway through our time in Ghana. Before coming here, the thought of being away from home and away from my people for six weeks made me anxious. Yet as each day passes, I find myself feeling sadder and sadder that our time here will be coming to an end soon
Never before in my life have I adjusted so quickly to a foreign place while practically living with strangers. If you had told early freshman year Skylar, who nearly had panic attacks when being forced to return to school from a weekend at home, that I would be spending six weeks in Ghana with people I barely knew, I would have laughed in your face.
Deciding to be a part of this program was one of the boldest decisions I’ve made in my life, and I’m forever glad I did it. This trip has far exceeded my expectations.
Throughout my second week at my internship at Zed Multimedia, I have been published in the newspaper, The New Finder, every day. My focus has been on international stories, per my boss’s request. Each day, I come into work with a routine. When I arrive minutes before 9 a.m., I dive deep into the news for the top international stories. After finding the top two to three stories, I take brief notes of the main points I want to cover. I then transfer these notes into sentence format, compiling 100-200 words for the noon live news broadcast. At noon, I join my colleagues Praisewell, Samuella, Solomon, and Jonathan in the studio, where we give the latest news updates live on Zed 101.9 FM. Speaking live on the radio every day was not something I expected to be a part of my journalism journey. I won’t tell my work colleagues this, but if I had a choice in the matter, I probably would opt out of this. Yet coming on this trip has already pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that I’ve unintentionally vowed to myself not to pass up new opportunities.
From mispronouncing words to struggling to say everything in one breath, speaking live has led me to moments of discomfort. However, each day I have noticed feeling more and more comfortable. I’ve even been told by my boss that I’m starting to “sound more like a Ghanaian.” This morning routine has also made the process of turning broadcast stories into print stories so much easier.
After eating a delicious Ghanaian meal for lunch, I spent the rest of my day writing 300-400 word pieces for the international segment of the New Finder. So far, I have written about the Russia-Ukraine conflicts, attacks on Syria, a plane crash in London, a fire in Iraq, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and U.S. deportations to an African kingdom. Before coming to Ghana, my knowledge of news outside the U.S. was fairly limited to “Breaking News” notifications from the New York Times and the occasional international story I read from The New Yorker. Yet just three weeks later, I’m feeling like Ms. Worldwide of journalism.
Skylar! SO happy you’re on this trip. I didn’t realize you were so anxious about coming. Can’t imagine the group without you. Glad you’ve felt pushed out of your comfort zone. That’s the whole idea. Should be a confidence boost. Anyway, obviously you’re thriving. Everyone is.