There was a point in Dishon Amanya’s career when everything seemed to be falling apart.
The dream of building a career through photography was beginning to feel uncertain, and he was almost ready to give up and return home. But just when he was beginning to doubt himself, his mother believed in him.
She decided to take a chama loan and use the money to buy him a camera.
That camera would become more than a piece of equipment. It became the turning point in Amanya’s career.
With it, he found a new opportunity to tell stories through the lens, taking on assignments and gradually building a career that would move him from local storytelling to national and international recognition.
Years later, that journey reached another significant milestone through Safaricom’s Capture the Good Awards, where Amanya progressed from approximately 6,000 entries to 243, then 90, before earning a place among the final 18 finalists.
The achievement has given a new meaning to the camera his mother once struggled to buy for him.
From 6,000 entries to the final 18.
For Amanya, the Capture the Good journey became a test of persistence, creativity and the power of visual storytelling.
His entry survived several rounds of selection, eventually placing him among the 18 finalists in the national competition.
“From 6,000 to 243, to 90 and now to 18 finalists, it has been a long journey. Every stage has reminded me that persistence can take you places you never imagined,” Amanya told the press in Nairobi.
The recognition also came with practical support from Safaricom.
As a finalist, Amanya received an equipment voucher to strengthen his photography and storytelling capabilities, alongside support to undertake a community project.
For a photographer whose journey began with a camera purchased through his mother’s chama loan, the opportunity represented another important investment in his craft.
This time, however, the investment was coming from an institution recognising the power of his storytelling.
From a mother’s sacrifice to institutional support
There is a striking connection between the two moments.
At the beginning of his career, it was his mother who invested in his potential when the future was uncertain.
Years later, Safaricom and the M-PESA Foundation’s Capture the Good initiative provided another opportunity for him to grow as a storyteller and use his craft to create community impact.
For Amanya, the significance went beyond the equipment voucher or the competition itself.
His photography has taken him into schools, homes, farms, water points and communities, documenting ordinary people navigating extraordinary challenges.
Telling the story of education.
Amanya’s winning shot
As part of the Capture the Good community project, Amanya travelled to Naitiri SA Primary School in Bungoma County to document how a Safaricom and M-PESA Foundation-supported project was transforming the learning environment and creating new opportunities for pupils.
He titled the visual story “Naitiri Primary: Where Dreams Once Struggled, Education Now Thrives.”
Using three carefully selected photographs, he documented a story of transformation not simply focusing on infrastructure, but on the learners, their environment and the possibilities that investment in education can create.
The project would go on to become one of the entries that advanced through the Capture the Good competition to the national finals.
For Amanya, the Naitiri story was deeply personal because it brought together two elements that have shaped his journey: storytelling and education.
Over the years, he has documented education-related stories involving children, teachers, schools and communities through assignments involving organisations including Elimu Yetu Coalition, Save the Children and FAWE Kenya.
Although his professional journey eventually took him into journalism, communication and visual storytelling, education remains central to how he understands his own story.
“My passion is telling education stories because education made me where I am,” he said.
A camera, a mother and a journey
Looking back, Amanya says the camera his mother bought through a chama loan was not simply an investment in equipment.
It was an investment in possibility.
At a time when he was contemplating giving up, his mother saw something in him that he was struggling to see in himself.
That decision gave him the tool to continue.
The camera opened doors, allowed him to tell stories and became part of a journey that has since earned him national and international recognition.
Now, standing among the final 18 in Safaricom’s Capture the Good Awards, Amanya’s journey has come full circle.
What began with a struggling young storyteller, a mother’s faith and a camera bought through a chama loan has grown into a career built around telling stories that matter.
And for Amanya, the latest recognition is not the end of the journey.
It is another reminder of what can happen when someone believes in your dream even before you believe in it yourself.
- The competition saw Mathew Meli from Uasin Gishu clinch the overall winner in the photography category ‘Built for Dreams’ for documenting school infrastructure improvements.
