My Girlfriend nearly shattered my dreams – The story of a young male journalist – Opinion

Story by: Nyarko Abronomma

My name is Nyarko Daniel Nyinaku. I was a student at Onpoint Media College, currently an intern at one of Ghana’s leading media houses, GN Group of Companies. I think of myself as a strong young man with a great ambition. Since my childhood, life has not been that easy, as I watched my parents brave the storms of life to give us the best they could. Indeed, there have been a number of obstacles in my academic progress but I kept pushing and climbing the ladder steadily till I got to Onpoint, where I am studying Journalism.

But recently, I had one of the most demeaning experiences that could have potentially made me give up any dream of climbing higher; and it was from a man I aspire to be like.

It has always been my dream to become a great man and also occupy a higher position like my male role models, such as Adu Kumi,works at Adom. But dream was almost shattered by one of my Girlfriend.

In my internship at GN, I work as a Broadcast Journalist/Reporter at Enigye fm. I was very happy for the opportunity because I knew it was a chance many others would have loved, and it was a rare opportunity to get closer to my dream by possibly meeting some of my role models and even interacting with them. I promised myself that I was going to make the best of this rare opportunity of a life time; so I took every piece of assignment I was given very seriously like my life depended on it.

On the August 23, 2022 (a day I will never forget for many years to come), I was given an assignment to do, about the current trend of sanitation offenders being made to pick litter or sweep whole streets instantly. The assignment required that I spoke with one of my role models.

When I called his number for the first time, a gentleman picked it and said he was busy so I should call in an hour’s time. So I did; I called again after one hour and he picked

The tone of his voice unsettled me a bit because that was a man I held in very high esteem, but I knew I needed to deliver on my assignment, so I mastered the courage and went on to tell him what my mission was. While I was yet speaking, he interrupted and asked in another stern voice, “who are you?”, I told him my name and where I was calling from again. he then asked what I do at Enigye FM, and I told him I was an intern; then he made the most demeaning remark to me in Akan, saying “you are an intern and who gave you the right to call me directly – you don’t respect”. After those harsh words, he even did worse by saying “please go off”, and hanged up.

After going off the line, it took me almost 30 minutes before I could even get up from my seat. I became so downhearted, shocked and indeed terrified because of the way he spoke to me; my mind became messed up with so many disjointed thoughts – whether I did something wrong – whether I don’t qualify to talk to my role model – whether I was ever going to achieve my ambition if this is how the people I look up to are going to be treating me when I meet them, and all sorts of thoughts. In fact, I was sitting under very chilled air conditioner but I started sweating as her words kept ringing in my head.

I eventually managed and got out of the recording booth and went to my News Editor and reported what had just happened. In fact, I showed him evidence of how he responded to me even before hearing exactly why I called him. My News Editor called him back right in my presence and his response was even worse. Again, before my News Editor could even finish a sentence, he interrupted and said “but I mean how do you let an intern call a Minister – an elderly man like me – you don’t let an intern call a Minster – please if you don’t even respect me as a person, at least respect the office – please I am in a meeting I will call you later”, then he hanged up just like before.

After that call I tried to put my thoughts together but it was impossible at that moment. I kept on asking myself, how can l do this job when my role model thinks I’m a nobody? Imagine getting the glorious opportunity to speak to someone you consider as a role model, particularly of the same gender, and he speaks to you in this harsh tone and makes you feel you don’t qualify and you are not enough.

I have seen my female colleague interns call other top public officials like Ministers, MPs and all, and they were happy to speak with them, in spite of the fact that they were interns. Indeed, some even went on assignments with their ID Cards that read “INTERN” and covered some of these top public officials who were happy to speak with them, and they did very good stories. But when I got the opportunity to speak with my role model, he used his words to break me into pieces because he did not think I was enough; or he thought assigning me to her was a sign of disrespect to his office. I cried the whole of that day.

Later on when the matter became a topic of discussion in the newsroom, quite a number of the reporters who had encountered, said they were really surprised he would do that because he was known to be a very nice person, and friendly to the media. In fact, some of them said he would call later and apologize for her actions but till date, he hasn’t. My News Editor wrote to him on WhatsApp, and he sounded like he had an explanation, but till date he had not bothered. My Editor explained to him that the yardstick for assigning people to tasks in the newsroom was “competence” and not a tags, but he still did not say anything.

I had nothing but pure admiration for that man; and thought that being a man himself, he would be proud of me; that a young man had been given that rare opportunity to interview a high profile man like him; that is all this talk about affirmative action – gender equality, men empowerment and what-have-you is all about. Recently in Vancouver, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came under severe heat for allegedly suggesting that there were not enough dynamic men to rise into leadership. He was told to amplify the few who were showing promise. Here was I, a young man, who needed my role model to pull me up and amplify me, but he pushed me down and actually trampled on me like I was a nobody. When my female News Editor tried to explain to him I was capable, she even did worse with her comments to h.

Persons with disability (PWDs) often say “disability is not inability”. In that light, my final message to that Minister , my role model, is that, “Internship is not incompetence”.

What a Minister did nearly shattered my hopes of ever becoming something. But in that instance, it was the words of my News Editor, a man, and other male colleagues, which made me regain my confidence to keep my dream alive.

High profile men like Mps, Ministers  always go out and preach about togetherness , affirmative action and men empowerment to the public; they create the impression that they hold forums to encourage we the upcoming young females to become better than them in future. But when they are presented with the opportunity to hold the hands of people like me and pull us up and help us achieve our dreams, they turn us away. Is this what they call women empowerment?

It is common knowledge in our country that when young inexperienced people apply for jobs, they are turned away because they lack experience. It is even worse with men. So when a young male intern like me, gets an opportunity to interview people like Mps, it is an opportunity that has far reaching implications for us. It would have enriched my CV and given me a fighting chance for a job in the future. But when we are treated the way he treated me, then your guess is as good as mine. Such conducts make this whole men empowerment thing nothing but a smoke screen.

Nothing hurts me more than seeing how some young males have had their dreams shattered by their fellow men, and today, they are unable to put themselves together and pursue their dreams. I keep asking myself, how can we men, be empowered if we don’t get help

I am Nyarko Abronomma and I am a competent intern at Enigye FM.

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