"I spent three months in Ghana over the summer of 2004 working on my story about kayayoo. The project was funded by the Eugene Roberts Jr. Prize, a grant awarded through the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The purpose of the prize is to expose a story that has received little exploration. My sister was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana at the time, and her fellow volunteers in the Gender and Youth Development sector provided me with information to propose this story for a grant.

"Finding an 'in' with the kayayoo in order to document and research firsthand was a challenge unparalleled by any other photo story I had done before. It took a lot of time hanging around the city markets and stations to observe the kayayoo, who are especially suspicious of white photographers who may exploit them. I eventually worked my way into the trust of one group of girls who understood that my intentions were to help -- I had to wear the same thing every day so they were sure it was me.

"On top of that, it took some time to get the hang of Ghanaian culture to avoid making any assumptions about the issue of kayayoo porters. You cannot jump to conclusions that this is a bad thing until you spend time with these girls. In the end I did learn that they are not happy with the state their lives are in, but they make do with the situation because they see no way out."

See photos taken by Julia Lebetkin of the porters