By Romie Avivi Stuhl

Opportunities sometimes arise in unexpected places. On Tuesday I headed to the Kempinski Hotel in Accra for a 9 a.m. assignment about corporate responsibility and sustainability. However, being in the Kempinski Hotel led me to an additional story and my first solo assignment.

The conference room was quite cold and my co-writer, Selorm, and I headed out of the room for a few minutes to warm up. As we stood outside I saw a sign on the room next door which read “Israel – Ghana Business Forum.”

I was born in Israel and lived there for the first 11 years of my life. Seeing Israeli flags has been a common sight in Ghana, likely due to Israel’s deep religious significance. But seeing an Israeli business forum in Ghana was something I never expected and it caught my attention.

The security guard at the event was a man I knew from a Shabbat dinner I attended on Friday. He told me he could get me into the event. I explained to him that I first had to finish the assignment for which Selorm and I came to the hotel, but I will do my best to stop by.

After the social responsibility meeting Selorm and I sat in the hotel lobby to write up our story. When we were done I had 30 minutes to spare before the Israel-Ghana Business Forum began.

I headed to the bathroom to fix my hair and my hands started shaking. This was my first solo assignment in Ghana.

Over the last three weeks my coworkers Selorm and Christabel guided me through every step of the way. They helped me figure out what parts of an event are newsworthy, how to format a story and which quotes to include, and they fixed up all my grammar mistakes.

I headed into the conference room with my head up high and sat close to the stage so I could take some photos for the paper. It was weird hearing people on the stage speak with an Israeli accent and people in the crowd whisper in Hebrew. In a weird way I felt like I was back home in Israel.

When the meeting ended  I didn’t have to write-up the story because I had a third assignment to head to: a cocktail launch party for the Ghana Club 100 awards. I looked forward to writing it up the following morning.

This was by far my busiest workday in Ghana. But it was rewarding to seek out my own opportunities and work on my own story. And it was even more exciting to see it published two days later with my first solo byline.