first person
StartingOut
Ann-Marie Abbasah is trying to move from social work to journalism and has been glad of the NUJ’s help
I
t’s 8.30am on a Saturday morning. I have made it onto the Jubilee line train with seconds to spare. I
am on my way to college. It’s a long way and I am tired. Barking to West Ham, West Ham to Waterloo, and Waterloo to Wimbledon where I am undertaking the NCTJ Multimedia Diploma in Journalism. By day I work full-time Monday to
Friday in social work. By night I am a trainee journalist. I’m not far from completing (and passing :everyone cross their fingers and toes, please) my course.
This time last year on a Saturday morning, I was sitting at my dining table come desk, plotting how on earth I was going to find the money to pay the course fees. I had already been to the interview, been accepted and my short-lived joy then turned to despair at the realisation of not being able to afford the fees and frustration as to where I would find the money. Thank goodness for the NUJ’s George Viner Memorial Fund (which offers burseries to aspiring journalists from black and ethnic minority backgrounds) which paid for my course fees so I could pursue my dream of becoming a journalist. Having worked in social services and
with young people for over 15 years and as I slowly and surely approach the big Four O (in a year and a half’s time). I could not escape the fact that I was waking up every morning not looking forward to the job that I was doing. Well, that and the fact that a woman who worked in my office building
suddenly popped her clogs and died. Just like that. Fine one minute and the next see you later alligator. I thought, stone the crows! Would
that happen to me!? What if it did!? Would here and this (my current job) be where I want to spend the majority of my time or the majority of what I do? No it wasn’t and so I faced a crossroads.
Call it serendipity but I accidently came across a trainee life coach who needed someone to practice her coaching on at the exact moment I began to question what I really wanted from life and from a career. One of the first questions she asked
me was this; if I had no restrictions on time or money, what five jobs would I like to pursue as a career? The next question was, what one of the five would I be more enthusiastic about working towards and what one could I realistically start attempting now? Being a journalist was one of the five dream jobs that I chose. It fitted my skills, interests and aspirations. I have always had an interest in the news and keeping up to date with what is going on around me and the world. Creative writing has always been a hobby and I enjoy working with people. And so my journey into journalism
began. M
y nights are no longer for sitting in front of the TV with my feet up on the sofa. My nights are
now for revising essential media law, public affairs, practising shorthand or writing articles. There is suddenly never enough
time in the day. What’s lunch at work? Every spare minute is for my course. I have zero time for a social life and
have forgotten what some members of my family look like (not necessarily a bad thing, wink, wink). I know this is not forever it is just for right now. In just over a year, my pipe dream is turning into a reality. I have had articles published on a couple of regional news websites and a magazine. Thanks again to the George Viner Memorial Fund I also gained work experience with the BBC, darling. I have also received an email from
the Guardian inviting me to interview for work experience (hope those fingers and toes are still crossed).
W
“ ”
I have zero time for a social life and have forgotten what some members of my family look like
hen I stop and think, it is a big wow! I do not know what the final outcome of where all the footsteps I
am taking will lead. I have lots of fear, around how I will be able to afford my financial responsibilities like my mortgage. It is very scary comparing what trainee journalists earn against what I earn now. I wonder how I will be able to afford to live as I embark upon this journey which means I will leave behind a well-paid, stable income. But you know when you know that
you know you have to do something? This is one of those moments and I intend to do it.
theJournalist | 21
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