For the Better

As a young woman, Ami was very shy and introverted. Picking up a camera changed that for her. She found a reason to interact with people. It empowered her and became her passport to engage with the world around her. “It allowed me to learn about and eventually understand people and make sense of the world. Now it is an incredible tool to tell important stories and hopefully create understanding.”

- Abhishek Desai

Early in her career, Vitale had the opportunity to visit the West African country of Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest countries on earth, which largely shaped her outlook towards human societies and nature.. Her sister was working for Peace Corps there and Vitale visited her for a few weeks. Describing her experience seeing the country, she said, “What I encountered was not the Africa of war and famines and plagues, nor was it the idealised world of safaris and exotic animals. It was something altogether different.” She spent her days learning Pulaar, the local language, and carried out local chores, like carrying water, gathering firewood and experienced life as a local. “When food supplies ran low, we all went hungry. To the women I was totally useless. I had neither a baby nor a husband. I could barely cook. I couldn’t even get water out of the well without help. But I think they trusted me because of the years my sister had spent living with them and they loved her like a daughter. I became accepted into the community, and once I was accepted and gained their trust, I realised that though my life in Guinea-Bissau was vastly different from that of the United States, the surprise wasn’t in our differences, but in all the things that we shared.” On her last evening there, Vitale sat with a group of children beneath a sea of stars talking into the night about her return home. “One of the children, Alio, looked up and asked me if we had a moon in America. Whenever there is a full moon today, I still think of him. He believed America was a so far away it was impossible for us to share the same moon. That was a turning point in my life – when I realised I wanted to spend my life working to highlight our commonalities rather than our differences.”