Student has big goals, big accomplishments

By Ty Hampton
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Tim Kupsick

Jacob Baynham, senior in print journalism, delivers a speech about his time in Afghanistan in the UC Theatre.

"Barami" is an ancient Sanskrit phrase meaning good fate or fortune that protects a person in their ventures. UM journalism senior Jacob Baynham has lived by this term, accomplishing bigger feats than many journalists do in their entire career by braving some of the most dangerous areas on earth as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan.

Baynham, 22, is a native of Denver, although no one would believe it because of his accented English. Baynham speaks four other languages -- Lao, Hindi, Farsi and French. But he will humbly tell you that he only speaks bits and pieces of the foreign languages. He contributes his unique accent to a mix of these languages, forming a sort of "mongrel" accent.

"I find myself telling a lot of people my life story because when they ask where I'm from and I say Denver, no one believes me with my accent. So then I have to fill them in on it all," Baynham said.

His family moved from Denver to India when he was 9 years old. He moved back to the U.S. three years later and attended public school but missed India.

At 14, he made his return to India to attend a boarding school in the Himalayas. When Baynham was 18, he went to Laos, a country north of Thailand, and taught English there for a year before he traveled back to the U.S. to attend the University of Montana.

This was not the end of his foreign adventures though. After three years at college, Baynham took a reporter internship with the Open Media Fund for Afghanistan.

As he talks, Baynham counts the 108 Muslim prayer beads on a string that he got in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, last summer. The beads relax him as he runs them through his fingers one-by-one, reminding him of his trip to the war-zone country.

"I knew that there were more stories out there than body counts and suicide bombings in Kabul," Baynham said. "I wanted to freelance and get my stories back to the Western media."

Baynham gave a presentation on his experience in Afghanistan to a packed UC Theater Nov. 13. He said his experiences began when his family took a vacation to Afghanistan when he was only 11, and he would walk the streets with bullet shells at his feet. He began a collection of shells in his bag until it was stuffed full. He remembered the excitement of seeing the bombings at Kabul, but more importantly, he recalled the hospitality and pride of the Afghani people. He kept a journal and studied the country knowing that one day he would try to return.

On the flight to Afghanistan last summer, a guard in the Dubai airport stopped Baynham and asked about his acoustic guitar, "Are you going to take that? Why that? You should take a gun."

Baynham worked last summer with what he calls the "burgeoning press in Afghanistan."

At his talk, he told stories and showed slides of his trip: a town's people after a suicide bombing attempt, his rented 1980s Land Rover with bald tires crossing a dangerous makeshift bridge into the mountains, local artists putting on a Shakespeare play. Baynham sold two stories to the San Francisco Chronicle and walked away with his life and the experience of a lifetime.

Other than pursuing his love for writing and his adventurous will, Baynham did not know what he wanted to do with his life after graduating from high school. Ultimately, it came down to one moment in his life that led him to be a foreign journalist.

In 2003, Baynham traveled with a friend to several countries in Southeast Asia. He saw people living poorly under military dictatorships without freedom of the press and the means to get these important stories out to the world. He was motivated by undercover journalists he saw risking their lives and the lives of their sources to tell these stories.

"I now rely on the basic principle that once people know about something, they will want to change it," Baynham said. "It might be a bit idealistic, but it's your best hope in journalism."

Baynham said that his international travels have given him a broader focus on journalism, a love for languages and culture, and a desire to get stories from Asia to the West.

"I want to highlight injustices and things being ignored to promote an overall better awareness of the world," Baynham said.

Baynham said he would like to be a foreign correspondent but on a bigger level.

"I would like to be part of a bigger network that tells stories the way they are in that environment, without going through a Western filter," Baynham said. "I think it gets kind of ethnocentric when only Western reporters can report on the world."

In his travels, Baynham collects the phrase "no worries" in different languages. He has also taken up a personal motto in the Hindi phrase "Araam Se Jaega," meaning "go with peace."

"Buddhism has had a lot of influence with me, but I was brought up Christian and I haven't really adopted either religion," Baynham said. "I believe in fate and sometimes that can be religious."

When asked if he ever feared for his life in any of his travels, Baynham said, “I've never felt in danger in these areas and maybe it goes back to 'barami,' and maybe it doesn't.

"I believe 'barami' means that if you go into life with good intentions, as mine and others’ intentions in Afghanistan were, then you will be protected."
Baynham said that after he graduates he would like to live and work in Asia, adding that the culture has a different set of priorities.

"Everything is a lot slower there with a real focus on family and community," Baynham said. "I also appreciate people who don't take things too seriously . . . Even under some of the most extreme circumstances, their people still know how to laugh at life."

With dreams of working in India and Kashmir soon, Baynham is considering freelance work.

"I'll try to make a go of it freelancing in the region, and if it doesn't work I'll try it another way," Baynham said.

At Baynham's presentation last month, journalism dean Jerry Brown said it best when summing up the senior's prospects in the field.

"Many of you tonight will hear from Jacob for the first time, but I guarantee it won't be the last.

Back to J-School Main Page