For more than two decades, people have been enjoying a picture, a fleeting moment
that I captured one day, by chance, at Wolfchase Galleria on December 23 rd , 2002 in
Memphis, Tennessee.
I worked the early morning shift for the newspaper, and it was a typical morning chasing
the news. I heard on the police scanner that an armored truck had been robbed. It was
a couple of days before Christmas.
The world was slowing down, the holiday was approaching.
At a time like this in the news business, the team works like squirrels, gathering what we
call “evergreen” stories, stories that can run in the paper any time, with no news peg, no
deadline, or urgency. That way people could work ahead, and we could staff the
newsroom, which was staffed 365 days a year, with a minimal crew.
I got my photo of the robbery scene before many of the staff even came into
work at the paper for the day. I was waiting for the press conference to start to get the
details of what had happened. While waiting for that, I went over to see what was
happening with Santa at the mall.
I was always eager to photograph Santa and the children. I have always loved to
photograph kids, dogs, and the elderly.
The photo editors made it clear that they had had enough of Santa for this season—no
more Santa photos. But I couldn’t resist. Even if it would not get published, I wanted to
make photographs of kids with Santa.
As a professional photographer, you spend a lot of time photographing what other
people want. It is important to never lose your own voice. It is important to always
continue to shoot that which brings you joy too!
I patiently hung back with a long telephoto lens, watched, waited and shot sweet
children eager to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.
I felt sure I had some cute photos. I tried to make a hard sell to the photo desk, but they
were not having it. We really don’t need any more Santa photos this season Karen, they
said.
When I came into the paper to turn out my day’s work, I had what I considered a
magical frame. The frame appeared to have a little girl and Santa sharing a very special
Christmas moment. I had to make a case to get it into the paper. I remember Otis
Sanford, one of the top editors, pushed to run it. He loved it. It ran on page one!
The next day, Christmas Eve, I got such an amazing response from our
readers! People just loved the photo. They wrote in and called. So many people were
touched by the photograph. One man wrote a letter to the editor saying it brought tears
to his eyes.
There was just something magical and heartwarming about this photograph.
As a photojournalist, I have always said, that touching the reader in a way that influences
them, and makes them write or call, laugh or cry, or even better rise into action, has
always meant more to me than any award ever could.
At the time, people cut the photo out of the paper, and many bring it out year after year
at Christmas. When I am long gone, this photo will be one of the photos that I am
going to be remembered by.
I wanted to let the family know how much this photo meant to the community. I wrote to
them more than once but never heard back. People asked if I could do a follow up with
the young girl, but I was never able to make contact.
Now more than 20 years later, with the help of social media, I found Affiong Enyenihi.
She was only a couple of miles from where I took the photograph and living in an
apartment with friends.
So, what ever happened to Affiong?
Affiong Enyenihi was born to Nigerian parents. She was brought up in Collierville. Her
father is a doctor, and her mother worked with children. They are very private people.
Affiong has her master’s degree, she loves history and is teaching in an inner-city
school here in Memphis. She left the area for a while but came back. She loves working
with the students but it is challenging.
“I want to try and make their lives better. Try to give the children opportunities and show
them what there is out there for them. There is a huge gap to close,” she says. She is
thinking now about getting her doctorate.
For her entire life, Affiong has lived in two worlds. Her American world and her Nigerian
world.
“It is hard being looked at differently “she explained. While a child, she did not want to
stand out by bringing unique food to school and she wanted an American name,
perhaps Rachel. Like most teenagers going to school at Houston High, she wanted to
be like everyone else. She was shy. She always enjoyed children; she was a camp
counselor at St. Columba, a popular summer camp in Memphis.
She was also born into a wonderful Nigerian community here. Her parents have a
church community, and they share birthdays, anniversaries and other social events with
the Nigerians in the area. They love the American South.
“Nigerians like to share their culture” she said. But she still felt awkward when, as a kid,
she brought her friends along and they didn’t want to eat any of the food, and they
wanted to go home.
When you are young, you know that people are not living the same culture as you. She
remembers not wanting to be different, but she also appreciated her culture, and she’d
never want to leave it behind. “Not everyone gets to have two cultures” she said.
“I think I’ve always just wanted to be my parents’ daughter more than anything else.”
She will continue to enjoy dual cultures and stay close to her parents.
“The way my mom raised me was to find similarities with other people, even if people do
things differently, you can always find something in common.”
What a beautiful thought for this holiday season.
As for how they spend Christmas, “In Nigeria, the way we celebrate Christmas is
different, we go to church on Christmas Day, we celebrate with friends, we eat different
things, decorate and throw a party. We do celebrate Christmas; we have Father
Christmas. I think Christmas can be magical even without a celebration of Santa. “
When she was a kid, her neighbor had kept a newspaper clipping of my photo of her
with Santa. She knew the photo existed. But she really had no idea what it meant to
anyone else. Her mother has photos of her all over the house, but none with Santa.
That day at the mall, she was just a kid who wanted to see Santa. And she was
delighted, that her mom said yes, and I was lucky enough to capture that magical,
fleeting moment in time that reminded so many of the magic of Christmas.
By Karen Pulfer Focht ©2024
