April 29, 2026 | Giuliana Means, Communications Intern
Through the course “Globally Focused Advanced Documentary Filmmaking,” five journalism students and three advertising students explored the lives of female head porters, called kayayei, in a faculty-led trip to Accra, Ghana, over spring break.
“I know from my experience that traveling and working abroad, especially in Africa, can be an inflection point in one’s life and globally contextualize values,” said Charles “Stretch” Ledford, associate professor of journalism, who has visited more than 55 countries throughout his career. “It was incredibly gratifying to be in a position to provide students this kind of opportunity.”
The course focuses on the labor of the kayayei, young women and girls—some barely in their teens—who migrate from Ghana’s rural north to the country’s urban centers, primarily Accra and Kumasi, in search of work. That work consists of carrying loads that can exceed their own body weight through the city’s sprawling markets, earning the equivalent of less than a dollar per load while exposing themselves to exploitation, musculoskeletal injury, chronic anxiety and depression, and other health and wellness risks.
Focusing on Accra’s Kantamanto used clothing market, the class is producing a documentary focusing on three narratives about kayayei who work there: a day in the life of Sahada Shehabu, a 22-year-old kayayoo; the risks of the work, described by Muhammad Salifu, founder and director of the Kayayei Youth Association; and the role the kayayei play within the market’s economy, explained by Edward Atobrah, deputy general secretary of the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association.
You’re dealing with something that has a real impact, and you’re seeing change happen and immersing yourself in a community that you may not have had an opportunity to [otherwise visit].
Tomi Dugbo
Senior in AdvertisingThe journalism students will also create a 360º-immersive video, photo essays, an audio segment, and social-media friendly short vertical videos. They are sharing their initial work at the campus Undergraduate Research Symposium on Thursday, April 30, in a poster presentation titled “They Want to Go Home: Ghana’s Kayayei.”
Kaitlyn Devitt, a senior in journalism who worked primarily on the documentary film and 360º-immersive video, says the team worked an average of six hours a day over seven shooting days in three locations.
Devitt wants to pursue international journalism after she graduates, especially after this project, because of how rewarding it was.
“This project was perfect to get my feet wet,” Devitt said. “The topic itself was interesting because these women are my age, and who’s to say this couldn’t be me if I hadn’t had the privilege of growing up in America?”
During the trip, the advertising students worked with the Kayayei Youth Association to amplify their mission. They also communicated the journalism students’ reporting processes on social media and documented their experience through a blog site.
“This experience taught me the importance of collaboration where you’re not only working with advertising students, but journalism students,” said Tomi Dugbo, a senior in advertising. “You’re dealing with something that has a real impact, and you’re seeing change happen and immersing yourself in a community that you may not have had an opportunity to [otherwise visit].”
Advertising students also spent time visiting global ad agencies, such as Innova DDB and Ogilvy Africa Ghana, to analyze cross-cultural campaign approaches. They also plan to develop strategic communications campaigns for partner NGOs.
For all the students, it was their first time producing journalism and strategic communications in a foreign country.
“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” advised Marisa Peacock, senior lecturer of advertising. “There’s always time to refine, edit, and evolve it, but you can’t let the perfect shot stand in the way of getting the work done.”
With only a week to conduct interviews, collect footage, and produce the strategic communications deliverables, the team persevered in an environment that demanded that they adapt quickly.
Adelyn Mui, a senior in journalism, dove headfirst into the project to capture an authentic representation of the women’s stories and overcome the challenges of not having the connections she does when reporting on campus.
“Doing global journalism taught me a lot about journalism in general because those same skills I learned in Ghana, I can apply here locally on campus; they were just amplified since I was in a different country,” Mui said.
Students from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Ghana were partners in the project under the umbrella of the Illinois Partnership for African Women’s Health Narratives, spearheaded by Ledford. It is a continuation of his 2023 collaboration with Dr. Francis Sowa, Dean of Faculty of Communication, Media and Information Studies at Fourah Bay College, and new collaborator, Dr. Stephen Tindi, a lecturer at University of Media, Arts and Communication in Accra.
Alison Davis, senior lecturer of journalism, said the Illinois students naturally fell into the role of technological mentors for their West African peers.
“Students from the other countries were able to pick up our equipment and run with it; that’s the collaboration I like to see,” Davis said. “People are not that much different. You get a group of college students together, and they’re all similar. I love that.”
This course continues a broad focus on global women’s health narratives. Ledford and Davis have previously led students to report on local solutions to period poverty in Sierra Leone.
Next year, Ledford hopes to continue the story with reporting in Ghana’s Northern Region, examining how climate change may be accelerating the “push” of young women from Ghana’s rural and relatively poor north to work as kayayei in the country’s more developed south.
Major funding was provided by the University of Illinois through the BRIDGE Program, Vision 2030 Global Strategy Implementation Grant, Campus Research Board, Illinois Global Institute, Department of Journalism, the College of Media, and the Karin and Folke Dovring Endowment Fund, with additional support from Lisle International and Sony Electronics.
Photos by and courtesy of Charles “Stretch” Ledford and Marisa Peacock.
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