— A Poetic About by AJ Johnson
I am the witness with a double tongue—
English and French, both rivers of truth.
A journalist not just by trade,
but by calling—etched deep in the bones
of a continent that still sings
beneath the dust.
For a decade and more,
I’ve chased light across sub-Saharan winds,
pen in one hand, camera in the other,
documenting the tremble of hope
in war-torn prayers and whispered hymns,
in the shadows of systems,
in the hands of children.
Trained in sociology,
but shaped by the streets,
by nonprofit corridors and crowded youth centers,
by the stories that didn’t make the headlines
but changed me anyway.
You may have read my name
in Christianity Today,
or caught a glimpse in AnthrowCircus,
or felt my quill
rising through the tides of The Media Project,
or traced my footprints
behind the Togo voices of SOLD—
a film where justice and heartbreak
collide like distant thunder.
I now lead the lens
in the African Child Photo and Film Project,
in Togo, where young souls learn
that their stories matter—
that silence can be broken
by shutter-clicks and brave lines.
As photographer for Espoir Nouveau,
I trace the contours of resilience—
the laughter between ruins,
the dignity behind dusty windows,
the sacred ordinary.
When the field is quiet,
I return to verse—
to poems that untangle
freedom, identity,
faith, and what remains
after the fire.
Every frame I shoot,
every line I write,
is for this:
To inform the world,
To inspire the weary,
To ignite a flicker of change—
one story at a time,
through the lens of faith.
