Awoko Newspaper: How ‘Yu’ Sees It

I am in Salone through the Foreign Intrigue Scholarship offered by the University of Washington’s Department of Communication. Last year’s intern at Awoko, Michael Carter (aka ‘The White Guy’), was the first of hopefully many more interns to come in the following years. I’m only here for a little less than three months, so I don’t have the same scope of Awoko as my colleagues; but even in my short time here, my experience has been an eye-opening one which I will soon not forget.

When I arrived in Freetown back in June, I was a bit nervous about how well I would fit in with the reporters at Awoko. Looking back on it, though, I realize now that I had nothing to worry about. The people at Awoko almost instantly took me in as one of their own and warmly welcomed me to Salone. Our editor in chief, Mr. Kelvin Lewis, told me on my first day of work that “we are all one big family here.” And even after a few days, I could see that it was the absolute truth. All of my colleagues have become my brothers and sisters with whom I’ve had the privilege of not only working alongside, but doing various other things as well: Go to church, shop at the city center, travel to the provinces, and dance at a concert and nightclubs, among others.

In addition to being blessed with a warm and friendly atmosphere, working at Awoko provides another – perhaps more significant – benefit: Awoko is one of the most well-respected, professional newspaper publications in the country. Sure, my opinion may be biased because of the fact that I work here and the close relationships that I’ve built; but I will also be the first to admit that journalism, as a whole in Sierra Leone, is much different from what it is in the states (US). And, in my opinion, Awoko is very much on its way to being THE leader of journalism in the country, if it isn’t there already.

Mr. Lewis is not only a great editor, but a great person. He’s one of the wisest, most inspirational men that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with and I am eternally grateful for all that he has taught me in a short period of time. He cares deeply for each and every one of his reporters and wants all of them to succeed. A few weeks ago, Mr. Lewis said something that has stuck with me and will continue to do for rest of my journalism career: “If you cannot write something that truly captures and captivates people, you will not succeed in this job.” Maybe that’s obvious to some people; but for me, these words resonated with me and I’ve never felt more motivated to become an ambitious and charismatic journalist.

I will have to leave Salone in three weeks; it’s strange thinking about how my departure date is just around the corner, fast-approaching. But I will take this opportunity, on Awoko’s 10^th anniversary, to let both my Awoko colleagues and the people of Salone know that working for this newspaper has helped me grow and mature an immeasurable amount, for which I will forever be thankful.