Steemit Engagement Challenge WOX S6W6: “My Photo Diary” 5 photos of memorable events in 2022”

Hello everyone. It’s a great pleasure to participate in this interesting contest with you amazing people. 2022 has been amazing, tough, challenging and eye opening. Describing 2022 with 5 pictures is an amazing idea. There’s no better way to tell stories of important memories without including nice pictures. Arts bring life to stories about our past. Visual Arts speak better than just words. Here are my five most important pictures that best describe the amazing events and memories of 2022.

1. MY SISTER AND I AT THE RED CLAY STUDIOS TAMALE🇬🇭

photo taken with iPhone Xr. Location: RedClay, Tamale.

After she successfully passed the waec exams with incredible grades, I promised to take my sister out on a date for the first time. Before I asked her where she wanted us to go for the date, I had in mind that she’ll probably choose a fancy restaurant or ask for a party for she and her friends. To my ultimate surprise, Fatima said she’ll be very happy if I could take her to the Red Clay Studios. My sister’s love for contemporary art is not new to me, the whole family know how passionate she’s about arts. But to think that Fatima would ever choose arts over food was a big shock to me.

Red Clay is the most visited contemporary art museum in northern Ghana. It is about almost 45km away from our home. I don’t own a car yet, but because I was determined to make her happy, I did not hesitate to say yes to her wish. We fixed a date, I called a friend who had a car, got some petrol in his car and our adventure was set.

Fatima was very excited. Finally she had made it to the Red Clay Studios. There was an ongoing exhibition called “ Existing Otherwise The Future of Co-existence by a group of some young Ghanaian artists. All the art pieces were amazing, we took nice pictures and had loads of fun. My sister was very excited, I had never seen her that happy. She asked a lot of questions to satisfy about the arts pieces, our tour guide was amazed and impressed by her curiosity. Seeing my sister very excited and this lively about these simple things brought great relief to me. I’m very happy that I was part of the reasons why she made it to the Red Clay Studios and I’ll always remember this day.

2. FIRST TIME GOING FULLY BALD 👨‍🦲 

photo taken with iPhone 11pro max.

Before I made this crazy decision to go fully bald for the first time, I had a very beautiful Afro hair that I had kept for almost six months. My hair doesn’t grow very quick and it looks not very good so I usually do low cuts. Because of it’s poor natural performance, keeping the same hair for six months cost me some cool cash.
But one day during Ramadan, I woke up and decided to get rid of everything. The Afro hair was still cute and dope but there was something deeper. I felt like my spirit was tired in this old looks. I needed to switch up so I decided to get a hairstyle that I’ve never had before. I couldn’t think of anything better than going fully bald. There were some after thoughts but it wasn’t enough to hold me back. I went to my barber and came back home fully bald.

I looked very different. Not so good looking but I was dope. I liked the fact that I had power over my looks, that I had the freedom to express myself. It was very fun and I enjoyed every moment with my bald head with zero regrets. I took a lot of pictures with it.

Even though it was just a haircut, I believe there was more to it. I realized some amount of self awareness in me and how I was able to alter my looks and still live with ultimate confidence.

I’m happy that at least for once in my life, I did not care about the “perfect scripts” of society, I went away from the mainstream and I was still happy. My bald head was dope and I’ll remember it forever.

      3. MY BIRTHDAY DINNER 🥘🎂🎁 

Photo taken with iPhone 11. Location: KFC, Tamale 🇬🇭

31/07 was my birthday. The day started well with me. I woke up to some lovely messages from my friends on WhatsApp. I was not very happy, but I was grateful to Allah for another year. The previous months has been though and challenging.I had just started regretting the decisions I had made in the previous months, the biggest one was moving out of my parents house to my new one bedroom apartment that I had rented. Some few days ago, I quit my recent job- because my boss who’s also my uncle had failed to pay my salary for the past two months. I was broke and jobless. Because of the financial frustrations I was going through, I did not see anything special about my birthday. The past ones were better, at least I could afford a dinner on my birthday.

On the night of my birthday, I had a pleasant surprise from two of my homies. They pulled up at my abode and insisted that we go out for a special dinner. My mood peaked immediately from zero to one hundred. I asked that we got to KFC, I was thinking budget friendly,lol.
We had a blast that night. The food was fantastic, the music was great and we took dope pictures and videos. The bills were sorted by them. On our way home, we stopped at a shop rite. Suabir got me a pair of black crocks (gosh! My favorite!!!) and Marzuk got me a bottle of champagne.

I couldn’t believe how my birthday was suddenly made great by my friends. They made me realize how important friends can be. God gave me amazing friends which I’m very grateful with. Suabir and Marzuk made my 25th birthday a wonderful one that I’ll always remember.

  4. FIRST TIME BEING A CLASSROOM TEACHER 

selfie taken with iPhone 6

On 12/10/22 I got an appointment from the National Youth Authority (NYA) of Ghana 🇬🇭 to work as a classroom teacher for two months for FREE. After submitting my application to participate in the NATIONAL YOUTH AUTHORITY VOLUNTEER PROGRAM, I got shortlisted for an interview. I passed the interview and was anticipating to be posted to an Agriculture non governmental organization to commence my service- because I studied Agriculture Technology in the university and I had no background or experience in any other discipline.

The following week to the interview, I got an appointment letter from NYA. But something was not right, I was posted to teach in a basic school. I went to the office to enquire if it was a mistake. It wasn’t, all the NGO’s has been taken and they had no other option than to send me to reach in a school.
This was certainly going to be a challenging task. I don’t have any experience as a teacher. The appointment was not binding and I could reject it and maybe wait for next year, perhaps I’ll get a slot at the agric NGO.

I accepted the appointment and embraced the challenge. I reported at Abe Halperin School complex the following week and started work immediately. I was to work under madam Ruth as an assistant teacher in basic ‘3B’.
My first week in the classroom was the most challenging moments. I was finding things difficult especially with class control. The school dining was new to me. I didn’t have any experience with teaching children who are not my siblings, especially when they are more than thirty. And the national economic crisis was adding more challenges. I was spending not less than gh60 ($7) on fuel every week working for free.
It did not take me a long time to adjust and adopt. I was learning very fast from my senior colleague and my students as well. Eventually I fell madly in love with my new job. My students become my best friends, the school dining became more and more fantastic and I was a happy teacher. Everyday, I couldn’t wait to get to my school. I became better at class control and I spoke confidently in front of my students. The senior staffs of the institution were impressed by my adaptation and commitment, my supervisors at NYA were delighted with my commitment and most important so was happy with my growth.

My two months in the school as a teacher was undoubtedly my best highlights of 2022. I developed myself and built my capabilities which definitely is going to be a great advantage in my next career encounter.
Even though I didn’t earn any money working in Abe Halperin, I still believe it was a very valuable and worthy experience. I am very grateful to the NYA and the proprietors of Abe Halperin School Complex for the opportunity. I’ll miss Madam Ruth and everyone in Basic ‘3B’

       5. Eid Day 2022. 🎊

jpeg taken with iPhone 7+ Location Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium

This picture was taken right after the eid congregational prayer with my good friend CEEBA. And as you may or may not have noticed, I had lost some weight. I was down with a POV sickle cell crisis for almost two weeks. I have a sickle cell hemoglobin disorder. My genotype is Sc. There were some slight reliefs within these period but it lasted only for some few hours. And one of which was the day and time of the Eid congregation prayer. The stadium isn’t far from my home so immediately I felt some relief on the morning of the Eid, I decided that I’ll join the congregation prayer. I remember that some hours right after this shot, I wasn’t myself anymore. I wailed and cried in agony.
Sickle cell pains are unbearable. One of the worst pains a human being can go through.
Even though I had a tough time on Eid day, I was favored enough by Allah to take part in one of the most important congressional prayers in Islam. I’m grateful to Allah for the favor and I’ll always remember this day.

To conclude with, I would say that 2022 was a very challenging and eye opening year. A lot of good and bad decisions to learn from moving forward. I’m grateful to Allah for my life. I believe being alive today is the greatest achievement one could ever wish for. Looking forward to a better 2023.
I would like thank leaders of this community for this innovative contest idea which I am delighted to take part in. I would like to invite my friends @mohammed4 and @yaqubbilqis to take part.

         BEST REGARDS 🙏🏿❤️