Careers, confidence and paying it forward: The women of Miraisha

As a female photojournalist, Miriam Watsemba can gain access to places that her male contemporaries cannot. And she uses the privilege wisely. Her work documenting period poverty in schools in the Bududa district of Uganda packs a powerful emotional punch, but it is sensitively handled, practical in detail and insightful. It is hard to believe that there was a point that Miriam believed such a career was out of her reach.

This is, unfortunately, a common belief held by young women when they arrive at their first Canon Miraisha workshop. While the path to being a photographer is often not well established, particularly in the most disadvantaged communities, for women it can be even more challenging. Social and cultural expectations are a very real barrier to women with dreams of pursuing a professional career and education is fraught with plenty of hurdles of its own.

For the women who participate in Miraisha, it is often that the programme has arrived in their community and presented them with an opportunity to learn a new skill. Certainly, this was the case for Judy Rotiken, a Maasai woman who, unusually, works as a safari guide at Ishara Mara, on the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. It is uncommon for a Maasai woman to work outside the home, but Judy is smart, ambitious and determined. So, when Miraisha came to her workplace, she didn’t hesitate to grab a camera with both hands and learn a new skill which would elevate her career.

“It changed my perception and understanding,” she recalls. Not only in the way the lens gave her a different view of the world, but opening her eyes to new career possibilities and options for the future – but not just for herself. “The Miraisha Programme has profoundly impacted me,” she says. “And I hope to encourage my children to also pursue photography, allowing them to consider it as a career option later in life.”

Her daughter’s future was also first and foremost in the mind of Monica Okech when she encountered Miraisha at the local community centre near her home in the informal settlements of Mathare, in Nairobi, Kenya. Around half a million people live in this city of makeshift dwellings, constructed of whatever is to hand – corrugated iron, plastic sheets and wood. When she fell pregnant at the age of 18, Monica was forced to leave her family home and Mathare was where she found herself. “When you've never worked, the cheapest place you can go to live is the ghetto,” she explains. “I didn’t see me raising my kid in such a situation. Every time I looked at her, I wanted to give her more, which I couldn’t because nobody would give me opportunities.”

It is no exaggeration to say that Miraisha changed everything for Monica. Like most young women in her community, further education was simply inaccessible – even if you did well at school. Discovering Miraisha allowed her to continue learning and soon she was effectively acting as an intern to the programme. Her confidence grew to the point where she applied for a full-time role with Canon and was successful. It was a dream come true.

Today, she is learning leadership skills and facilitating Canon’s education programmes in East Africa. Monica and her daughter left Mathare for a new home and her son was born in 2020. She no longer worries about not being able to provide a good life her children. “I don't see what I do as a job. For me, it is something I love and that gives meaning to my life,” she says. “And it has really changed me. I became outspoken. I became strong. Confident.”

Miriam Watsemba too felt this huge surge of confidence as Canon Certified Trainer Georgina Goodwin guided her in the skills of documentary photography, and it was nothing short of transformational. “My photography, career and life changed completely,” she says. She was shown that her dreams of becoming a photographer and journalist were not niche, frivolous, or out of reach. She met others who wanted the same things and realised that she had found her life’s vocation. And, of course, all the best careers are spent learning, growing and taking on new challenges.

For Miriam, this meant that she wanted to take what she had learnt through Miraisha and pay it forward. “I met so many wonderful people and trainers,” she says. “It is hardly surprising that I too decided to become a Canon Certified Trainer.” In the future, she also hopes to provide access to space and resources for visual storytellers to thrive, and inspire others – especially, women and girls – to choose a career in photography.

But beyond giving women the confidence and opportunities to enter creative industries and thrive in their future careers, the Miraisha programme is bringing a diversity of perspective among African storytellers. Whether that is in how Monica sees Mathare, Judy’s insights into the Maasai Mara or Miriam bringing issues of gender and poverty to the fore, their images – and so many more that have been captured by African women – create a more rounded and nuanced picture of the places they call home.  

Canon Miraisha is celebrating its 10^th anniversary. Learn more about the programme, our partners and trainers.