From the “Recovery through Journalism Project” which has trained 8 young East Africans to report for Runta! Few months ago, we did not know what Journalism was but now if we are asked we could simply say “it is a form of writing that tells people about thing that are happening in the world, that they might not known about already.” Some people are professional with it and make a living out of writing for newspapers, magazines, blog (online diaries), radio or television. One of our friends, Mustafa Ali who is part of the team, who was asked that question he would simply say “it is curiosity”.
We had the opportunity during this course to become good readers as journalists are. Now we can pay attention what is happening around the world as though we already are part of the reporters who bring news to audiences and readers. We can create news just based what is happening around us using the principles of good journalism some of which are Relevance, Timeliness, Proximity, and so. We were not only trained in reading, writing, but also for photography and computer aided reporting. We have had the opportunity to visit many places during the training some of which are Community events to practice our new profession. We captured some of the events on camera and some in writing to contribute to Runta News.
Some family members and friends call us “Journalists” perhaps some say as a joke but when they soon see our work posted or printed, surely their tone would be serious. Our hope is to set an example for other youth and encourage a culture of reading which would lead to success in school and college. We thank our teacher Hamdi whose passion motivated us. It was great program which was entertaining. We covered a long distance. By: Warsame, Hashi, Abdi, and Mohamed
