The love of a mother

Twitter

   By Wendy Ngcobo
 

The cord is a powerful instrument 

that unites these two beings for life.

The maternal bond a child has for her mother.

Its an unspoken code that is formed from conception,

She knows you more than you know yourself.

FJP Alumni motivating 2011 FJP

By Wendy Ngcobo

Sihle Siyabonga Mthembu took some time to motivate the 2011’s FJP’s (Future Journalist Programme).

He described his experience at FJP as one that was very interesting as it became a unique networking platform and learning experience. The workshops that were offered during his FJP year took his writing to another level. Initially, Sihle disliked writing hard news but he told FJP’s to pay attention to their writing workshops. He acknowledged the fact that the writing workshops made him more comfortable in writing especially feature stories.

Currently, Sihle is at the National Arts Festival, doing reviews for BBC. He is also doing an internship at the prestigious Media 24. These are valuable contacts which he made during the Highway Africa Conference, through the exposure offered by FJP. He advised FJPs to use this opportunity as a stepping stone to bigger things. “I met MathataTsedu at Highway, who told me about the cadet school  at Media 24,” he said. Ironically, Mathata has since taken Sihle under his wing.

He credited the programme for his success and the opportunities since derived from it. Sihle encouraged the FJP’s to take full use of this opportunity not only to build networks in the industry, but also amongst themselves.”The colleagues you have now will help you should you need to interview someone in Johannesburg and you are in Durban”.

He emphasised on professionalism as he believes it is what brought him to where he is now.” Remove the mentality of being a student”, he said. “That way you don’t leave room for mistakes.”

Sihle Mthembu checking shows that he will be reviewing

 .

Sihle encouraged the FJPs to spread out and think beyond politics, stressing the industry’s dire shortage of quality journalists, particularly in the field of arts, environment and business.

In the midst of story-chasing and meeting deadlines, Sihle motivated FJPs to always be prepared, take initiatives but also enjoy themselves and have fun.”This is a great opportunity” he said. 

For now Sihle’s he’s busy working on his first documentary called The Uprising. Asked on what    lies for the future, cinema was no doubt the next invasion space!

Lerato on pause

by Wendy Ngcobo and Sesethu Malgas

This is the story of Lerato, who has been waiting for three years for his final school results.

Last jay-walk on The Highway

By Wilhelmina Maboja

It’s always a great thing when somebody asks for your business card.


Though you wish you did have one (even if you made one from your home printer on A4 paper) the fact that a journalist or professor takes an interest in you that is more than momentary is quite intense.

There’s nothing but a sense of pride that comes with also donning your very own lanyard and name card that says “FJP Delegate” in bold underneath your name. Suddenly not only do they want your business card but they pat you on the back like you’re old friends when passing by.

This year’s 2010 Conference has been nothing but a mouthful: from the three course meals every day to the amalgamation of questions that want to shoot out of your mouth and wrap themselves around the minds of delegates. Every plenary guaranteed you a seat next to either a company CEO, correspondent, blogger or a fellow Future Journalist Project delegate, who was bound to corner you at the Eden Grove foyer and have you give them a business card or bleed out your contact details.

Beyond the conference, seminars and many a plenary, I found myself surrounded with a group of profoundly intelligent individuals with such a high calibre for journalism and most of all, communication. My FJP comrades were from the Tshwane University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, my very own Rhodes University and many others. I shared the same airspace and, possibly, cutlery, with fantastic men and women of the media such as Salim Amin, founder of Camerapix and creator of A24Media, and the former Ghanaian President. Despite this, what I will take back home and value the most is not the business card but the memories such as walking up the hill in the cold, dark and windy Grahamstown nights with Sushi, Zinhle, Jenny and Junior all for the sake of networking or the long bus ride to Grahamstown with a particular toddler yelling loud enough to want you to tie your tubes and renounce ever having a child of your own. Phew.

The more you ‘mingle’ with the delegates, the more confidence you get and eventually, stop psyching yourself up with a mini pep talk to sit next to Miriam Makeba and just do it.

The most insightful meeting I has was with Kambale Musavuli, a student coordinator of Friends of The Congo, an initiative aimed at creating an awareness of the plight of more than 6 million Congolese who had been killed by 1996, before and after colonialism. Though some might find it cliché and just another history lesson, the fact that he mentioned that coltan, a mineral found in Congo, was used in the uranium bomb of the Manhattan Project made me sit up and devise a plan that might just make a difference on campus.

My first time at Highway Africa has been nothing but influential and exceptional. I go home with the potential to be a kick-ass journalist and a little on the heavier side, thanks to the three course meals.

FJP and HA are legendary via Twitter: An Alumni writes

I wrote a few weeks how bad i felt when I didn't see any new posts on the blog for the past few months and if you read it, you'd know how I felt. Anyway, thanks to Sim for being as active as ever, with one post a month! Atleast we are still getiing a lil bit of traffic.

Welcome to the new FJP's! I'm sure that you, like me, were excited when you got the call that told you that you're one of a few journalism students in the country who can boast of being part of the Future Journalists Programme. Well Done! Use this opportunity as well as you can and trust me, you'll be a success. I am.

Anyway I really wanted to be at Highway Africa this year,  I even enquired about the prices and everything, but alas, due to the World Cup (which I am so sick of... add Zakumi to the picture and I gag) I couldn't get leave, therefore I couldn't exactly come to G'Town for the conference. However not all is lost! Thanks to a little nifty thing called Twitter ( btw you can follow me- Buhlebonga) I can follow the whole conference! From who opened the conference, to who said what and what people wore to the Awards last night (thanks Lebo). :-)

So its great having people tweeting about the conference. It makes me feel like I'm there and hopefully I will get to learn something out of this year's HA. Oh btw, what is the theme this year? *hides*

PIC: 2008 FJP's at the 2008 Highway Africa Conference

It's the African way or the Highway

By Sungeni Chithambo
I can already see that the Highway Africa Conference is going to be an experience of a lifetime. Not only is it the first conference I have ever attended but it is one which epitomizes the goals and ideas of my future journalism career. This prestigious conference is trying to achieve some sense of African unity. By bringing together a diverse multitude of delegates not only from around Africa but from the rest of the world, African media and its role in our ever-changing society can be defined and redefined using interpretations from various backgrounds. This is the unique flavour of Highway Africa, the only conference of its kind. Highway Africa is trying to bring people together and the attention it draws clearly shows us that the journey African journalism is embarking on, is one to be taken seriously. This is what I gather from the talks and discussions I have been to so far. This conference gives people a voice. Who knew I’d ever be in the same room as the retired president of Ghana and watch him avidly discuss issues of African development with people from all around the continent?
I am already overwhelmed at the number and calibre of guests at this conference and even more overwhelmed at the notion of networking with them. But I have to get over this irrational fear of crowds because it would not do well with my career at all. What journalist lurks in corners waiting for stories to come floating down from the sky? So I think it’s about time I give myself some advice; get some spine girl! I am yet to attend the Absa Africa Night and if this does not prove to be the networking opportunity of a lifetime then I don’t know what will. Highway Africa and the delegates taking part have much to contribute to my future career as a media worker. Their experience, background and advice will shape the choices I make regarding exactly which path I want to take in the future. My plans might change and I believe it is up to the media professionals attending this conference to mould my ideas of journalism and help me grow. Rubbing shoulders with some of Africa’s finest media professionals will hopefully lead to me drawing on their ideas and incorporating them into my own view of journalism in this flourishing continent.
There is so much people have to share. Highway Africa is an event well worth talking about, tweeting about, blogging about and making Facebook status updates about. Everything that happens throughout this conference needs to be documented so that others not part of the Highway African experience can gain insight into things like developmental issues in Africa and the problems African media is facing.
I am enjoying the experience so far. My fellow future journalists are awesome, my FJP coordinator is awesome, the long walk up the hill, not so awesome, but hey, we can’t have everything. After this conference is over, I want to know exactly what I want to do with my journalism career and where it is going to head. I need to be prepared.

FJP REUNION? Yes, please!

I miss this blog. Its one of the first outlets that I had to use to get published and as I watch it being in active, I become sad as this was such a great platform for young writers to get their thoughts, writings and talent to the world.

I miss the Future Journalists Programme. Its been two years and I remember that two years ago this time we were all prepared and super amped for the upcoming challenge that was the Arts Festival and seeing Grahamstown coming alive. Not only did I shock myself by writing my first tongue-in-cheek article and also interviewing Xolela Mangcu, who turned out to be a nightmare, very rude and unkind to young journalists, but I stood my ground and got the response I needed.

I miss YOU guys. We may chat on Facebook, twitter and everything, but you all made a HUGE impact on my life and I would do anything to see you guys. What I'm saying really is how about we have an FJP reunion, just so we can see where we are now, whether we all have jobs, and share how FJP made our lives better or improved our chances of being accepted in the industry?

So I'm posing a request to everyone who is FJP alumni? Can we meet up soon and reminisce about the good times that we had as FJP's? I know that FJP helped ME secure the job I have now and so interested was my editor about it, I spent a good 15 minutes talking about it, mind you this was on an impromptu interview on my graduation day!

Me and colleague, Charmel Bowman

 So how about it Boss Lady? Can Highway Africa and Open Society pull it off???

What makes a great journalist?

"Just because someone attends a top journalism school ... does not mean they will be taught to be great."

Read the article by Moagisi Letlhaku (FJP Coordinator) on The Media Online: http://www.themediaonline.co.za/themedia/view/themedia/en/page255?oid=40499&sn=Detail

FJP Winter School has been fest of words and pictures

The Future Journalists Programme Winter School appears to have been a good one.

All 18 students have been updating the FJP Twitter account almost every hour (which is warp speed at the Fountain Labs!)

They've also been producing copy like crazy.

A big thank you to Highway Africa and Rhodes Journalism for making this happen.

I am very proud of Prof. Guy Berger, Chris Kabwato, and Moagisi Letlhaku. It's they who have made FJP possible.

Thank you, thank you.
Sim

Respect for the dead

As much as we all have different ideas about what death and funerals should be like, it is important to acknowledge that people have different ways of doing things, even when it comes to them and they have to be respected.
It all starts with death. Death for most is a sensitive issue and as time changes the reaction and behaviour towards it is also changing. For some people the change is for the best and for some it is for the worst.
When an ordinary person passes on it is not a big issue to the world. But when a famous person dies it becomes news for weeks. Is it really news?
What about the feelings of the family and close friends who actually knew the person. At the end of the day we are all human and we have to be sensitive to such things. This for me applies even to journalists.
Journalists who just report on death carelessly should remind themselves of the ethics they are taught. Yes, you are taught to report things society considers to be newsworthy but at the end of the day just sit and think about that person as a human being and put yourself in her shoes.
The answer might interfere with your work but at least the deceased and the family will have peace of mind.

Ongezwa-FJP

Is that really a top-less girl?!!!!

Ubuhle Bomzansi, a Musical group giving a really enjoyable, colourful and energetic performance at Nombulelo Hall. They depicted the rich culture of the Rainbow nation through dance, singing, acting and costumes. Their Zulu dance where they girls go top-less was the best performance. Pic: selina Bebaako-mensah

A Girl's best friend at B2 Arena

A scene from the play "A Girl's Best Friend" where the bride-to-be passes out on the floor. Pic by Selina Bebaako-Mensah

Future Journos?

FJPs for 2009 on their way from breakfast decided to start their morning with a song.

Pic: Ongezwa Ndlakuse

Siyabangena!

It might be winter but we are here to stay... festinos outside Dulces on High St.

Village Green Moves Show From Town to RU Campus

The National Arts Festival’s Transnet Village Green Market has moved from Fiddlers Green in the centre of Grahamstown to Rhodes University campus. The new digs are more spacious and promise a “family-friendly” environment and a bigger sales platform for South African crafts makers and vendors.

According to Festival CEO Tony Lankester, the move to the Great Fields Complex at was prompted by the need to “turn the Craft Market into something bigger”; one capable of competing on an international scale. Lankester said that the previous location at Fiddlers Green was “shabby, rundown and cramped [with] nowhere to move”. Rhodes University partnered with the Festival organisers in order to open up the campus to the townspeople ensuring that “everyone comes to Rhodes as equals”—an issue that was apparently emphasised by Rhodes Vice Chancellor Dr. Saleem Badat. Lankester admitted however, that there had been a lack of communication between the organisers and the community about the move.

This was on the backdrop of a meeting which was held on 16 June by members of the community, who were disappointed about not being kept in the loop. The community was only notified of the change through recent advertisements. Khaya Thonjeni, a member of the Grahamstown community, said that there was a perception in town that people would lose their festival income with the Market’s relocation to the more leafy Rhodes campus. Townspeople are “more comfortable [with] where it was, because Rhodes has a way of doing things,” Thonjeni said.

Luvuyo Booi, a young casual also expressed his unhappiness about the relocation and said many people such as himself faced constant harassment from security personnel when they are on campus. He said that at Fiddlers Green in town they could “move around freely like everybody else” but on campus they are treated with suspicion and in constant fear of arrest. Booi said move also made it difficult for him to earn an income as he used to wash cars near Fiddlers Green, which is impossible on campus.

Not everyone is so despondent of course. Dylan McGarry, a street performer and puppeteer said that the move was “good for street theatre” because the Great Field Complex provides a big field and stands for the street performers. He said that the positioning of the old venue was not “very equitable” but it was “less segregated at the centre of town” therefore there would need to be more publicity to bring the town’s people onto campus, who still “don’t feel they have access to Rhodes University”.

The Village Green Market is one of the most popular aspects of the Arts festival and seems to have found a comfortable new home on Rhodes campus.

• Reported and written by Chwayitisa Futshane, Colin Wardle, Ongeza Ndlakuse and Jane Mathebula.