AMINA

GEEGPAY WRITING CHALLENGE 

Picture credit: Unsplash

My name is Amina and life has been terrible to me.

A 25 year old and I still haven't achieved my dreams. My five year plan failed woefully. If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't even have wasted my time drafting that plan in the first place. Out of the things that I wrote down that I wanted to achieve, the most important of them all was to be a photographer.

Photography is my dream, but it seemed like that dream won't ever be actualized. I trained very hard just to learn about it. When I was finally close to actualizing my dreams, it seemed like the stars weren't on my side. I was offered an internship at a prestigious photography school a year ago. I sent in my portfolio and luckily, they liked it. My mother was so happy for me when she heard it but then…

Tragedy struck a few months before I was supposed to travel. My mum fell seriously ill and that was how I lost my dream. I grew up with a single mother. We were very poor. Mum worked herself tirelessly to make sure I had an education and now age has caught up with her. All the stress from her younger years has finally revisited in the form of this illness. I did all form of freelance jobs to earn money but it wasn't even enough to cover my mother's medical expenses. I almost gave up on my dream thinking that the world wasn't on my side. I accepted my fate.

Until one day, I had a chance meeting with Chike, a renowned artist. It was completely by accident. I asked for his autograph stating that I was a good fan of his and that I'm passionate about photography. I told him all about my struggles and he sat me down and told me how it was for him as well. He asked for my portfolio. I was finally recognized and I learnt that no matter what, a person should never give up on their dreams.