Hello! Hola! Bonjour! Kaixo! Zdravo! Hej! Kamusta! Hallo! Hei! Tere! Alo! Ciao!
What a' gwaan!
My name is Taylor Edghill, and I was born and raised in Barbados. Almost 21 years later, I now find myself half way across the world in Los Angeles, studying at the University of Southern California. The transition from my beautiful, yet poverty-stricken island, to this crazy, wealthy city was mind-blowing, but what struck me the most was how much I knew about L.A. and how little everyone knew about my home.
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"Sorry. Where exactly is that again?"
This question, above all, is the one I receive the most whenever I mention the fact that I'm Barbadian. Barbados, or familiarly and locally called 'Bim', is my home - it is the tangy taste of tamarind balls, the ever-present salt spray blowing in your face, the 80-degree heat radiating off the white sands, the lively tunes from the steel pan performers in Bridgetown, and the sounds of the infamous Edghill guffaws echoing throughout my family's plantation. However, for the people I've met at USC who ask this recurring question, the beauties and wonders of my home are an entirely foreign concept - they don't know anything about my country simply because they haven't been told.
I know for certain that my country isn't the only one whose stories have yet to really be told. Right now I can only think of 10 countries whose stories I have heard of recently - and that's only because terrorism has caused disaster or potential presidents are campaigning about the benefits of a high-security wall. Nevertheless, there are millions of other, meaningful international stories that have yet to be explored - stories about outstanding citizens in third world countries who are trying to make a difference in their communities, stories about unique aspects of particular cultures and societies, and so much more.
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As a student at USC, I'm now into my third year as a Broadcast and Digital Journalism major. I signed up for this program not for the fancy cameras and expert editing skills I'd receive, but because I wanted to learn the art of being a storyteller. I want to transform the untold into the told. I want to be the voice for these countries whose stories are boiling beneath the surface, waiting to be exposed and shared to the world. I want to be the international journalist that everyone can rely on for dependable news around the world.
"What a' gwaan!" is Barbadian slang for "What's going on?" It is a common greeting in Barbados, but for me it's a personal motto. I want to find out what's going on around the globe, and to tell my discoveries to the citizens of this earth. Each of the 196 countries is beautiful, unique and damaged in it's own way, and its time that we all started knowing that. I don't know if I'll be able to expose the wonders of all these countries in my lifetime, but I will work my hardest to bring a new dimension to international news.
