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eye opener

i have got to admit, FJP has been an eye opener for me, it has only been six days since i got back, but ever since i came back from rhodes, i have changed, i notice things a a lot more than i did before.. i appreciate journalism more than i did before, and i am going to start my intership @ BBC next monday, and thanks to FJP i have a bit of knowldege about how tv works,it has been a great help.. #happy#

The story of Bakhulule Ngeleza

This is the story of Bakhulule Ngeleza

Your love set me free by Akhona Valashiya

the story of a vibrant young man,Xolani Nxuzula

mandla's story

an absent father in a boy's life is not an ideal situation. but what does one do when they find themselves in this situation, with lack of opportunities, lack of finances and a continous life of hope.

Lerato on pause

Mandla's Story

By Megan Deane and Busisiwe Busenga Mandla is a lovelife volunteer and this is his story about his goals and the challenges he faces in achieving them.

Xolani- the man with big dreams

By: Elethu Magele, Moses Moreroa and Portia Makore Xolani is a young ambitious man from Joza location in Grahamstown. After dropping out from school while he was doing grade 11, he did not see his dreams shuttered. He joined Love Life, and that was when his life changed.

Life through the shatterrd glass of a beer bottle

By: Pearl Nicodemus & Devaksha Vallabhjee

This is a profile of a Love Life Mpintshi, Bulelani Moyakhe that we put together for the Future Journalists programme 2011 Autumn school.

LoveLife helps young man ditch crime.

By Bongiwe Tutu & Duschanka Hitzeroth Bakhulule Ngeleza is a 21 year old ex-gangster who is striving to live and lead a better life to change and be a supportive father. He has overcome so many struggles and this is his touching story.

LoveLife through Sisanda's eyes

Moses, of All Trades

FJP does wonders, really. Some students come into the programme, quiet, reserved and closed in a shell, afraid of their first exposure to the real journalism world. University of Limpopo's Moses Moreroa, was one such student, or so it seemed. On Sunday the 3rd of April, when the group arrived in Grahamstown for the commencement of their FJP year, Moses was 'a man of few words', always limiting his engagement with the group to a few answers and an occasional smile. This Moses however, was a deception!

The real Slim-Moses has stood up! He has blossomed to the 2011 group's superstar in the making. I mean, this guy has been featured in most of the videos, either as the 'voice-over', the abusive father, or the lover, and so the list goes on! Hey, and he almost got the rule of thirds perfect in his video.

So, we have a Moses of all trades- in all things journalistic and theathrical alike!

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.

I guess it's as the learned say, "hard work pays off". It did indeed pay off for FJP Nokwazi 'Makhumalo' Khumalo, with sleep so peaceful, in the lab, in between the editing, mind you! I am quite certain she dreamt of Highway Africa and the collaboration with LoveLife, conjuring mobile magic somewhere in FJP land.

FJPs are currently enduring the last of late-night editing and perfection of their work before they exhibit tomorrow! What a glorious moment it will be for the students; to see the fruits of their labour! For us at Highway Africa, it will be a moment to celebrate achieving a major achievement- the education of young journalists to utilise new media technologies to report. We have demystified the notion that journalism requires expensive equipment. Students used their own mobile phones to capture footage. Phones ranged from Nokia 5130 Express Music, 5230,E90, Samsung E250, Galaxy Gio S5660 to Blackberriys. These devices, coupled with sound editing freeware, Audacity, and Windows Movie Maker has given birth to incredible documentaries usable for television and multimedia broadcasting.

We have proved to our students and to the media world alike, that journalism is possible anywhere, irrespective of the lack of funding to purchase conventional equipment. Mobile journalism is a solution to some of the problems newsrooms have faced in this converging industry.

Tomorrow, FJPs will return to their respective institutions, with a new skill. They return home with new friendships and a new strong network heading to their professional future. It has been a productive week, and I should also head home now, before I suffer the same fate as 'MaKhumalo' above.

Mobile, Journalism for the Future

The FJP Autumn School is now on its third day. FJPs have been exploring Cell Phone Journalism. It's been an interesting journey so far, with no internet connectivity in between and a few frustrations here and there for those young journos with a bit of techno-phobia! But of course, a helping hand from Paddy Donelly, is always at bay- almost like that illuminating light, in the midst of darkness.

Asking these young journalists to grab a pen, paper and sift fact from fiction is obviously no hustle, but asking them to write poems on their relationships and to produce a minute documentary on themselves and their thoughts on love, is yet another! FJPs made their first cellphone videos yesterday. If there's one thing I learnt, is that love surely hurts! On a more constructive side, the group got their hands dirty, scripting, filming in the field and later editing their work. In all, the FJPs got a good dry-run of how to think for broadcast, use their cellphones as tools and to use the software to produce for television.

LoveLife Field Trip
This morning, FJP visited the Dlukulu Clinic at Joza Township, Section 6 in Grahamstown. FJPs interviewed LoveLife Mpintshi's, documenting their different stories. They used their mobile phones to capture footage. It was a very good exchange between youth- the Mpintshi's sharing their life-stories and the FJPs documenting it.

FJPs will edit their work for the rest of tomorrow. Final products will be posted on all Highway Africa Platforms, and on the LoveLife website.

FJP starts with a bang!

The Future Journalists Programme (FJP) Autumn School started on a high note. Nineteen students from ten institutions of higher learning around South Africa converged in Grahamstown, to kick-start the 2011 FJP training. Though the theme for the Autumn School is Mobile Phones as Tools for Journalism, on this first day, students learnt of the basic fundamentals of television journalism, with the mobile-savvy-journalistic-skills to be acquired from Tuesday onwards. So, today was all about camera work, angles, sequence shots and scripting, in order to introduce television to those students who do not cover it as part of their courses in their schools.


Ice-Breaker

Who said journalists aren't fun? Here at FJP land, we do things the FJP way! We got rid of the archaic introductory system, marched to the TV studio and broke our icebergs the 'TV-way'. Students paired up, with each individual interviewing their peer. FJPs then pretended to be show hosts, introducing their peers on camera, as would Oprah, Noleen and the likes!


LoveLife

FJP is collaborating with LoveLife in this Autumn School. FJPs will will cover stories on Sexuality in Grahamstown. As if the first icebreaker wasn't clever enough, LoveLife Programme Manager, Simphiwe Mbambani gave the group a run for its witts. Simphiwe asked each student to introduce themselves, saying their name, school, a favourite brand which they associate themselves with and its payoff line. The brands ranged from LuckyStar "Ingishaya Ngaphakathi", to BMW "Sheer Driving Pleasure". Students were then told to finish the sentence "Under my underpants" with their brand pay-off lines. What a hilarious moment it was, and I dare not mention again how some of the sentences finished! This indeed, was an interesting method to get students thinking about sexuality. They then shared their personal accounts around issues of realtionships, including acceptance, jealousy, abuse and how they have previously dealt with these.


Scripting Poetry/Spoken Word for Television

In the afternoon, students were required to write poems about the relatioships in their lives, and they presented these to the class. The idea was to write in a manner which is suitable for television broadcast. Some took longer than others to grasp this concept as they were only encountering writing for broadcasting for the first time. Working in pairs was more helpful as it is always better to get second opinion from a colleague. By end of day, the FJPs had finished their scrips, which they will then start recording tomorrow, Tuesday morning.

Wrap-Off

The day ended with a braai. Rhodes Journalism and Media Studies (JMS) Deputy Head of Department, Professor Herman Wasserman, officially welcomed the FJPs to Rhodes and to JMS. The rest of the evening braai of cause included much entertainment from Cape Peninsular University of Technology's own Bhekimpilo Dungeni steering the conversation and giving the group much laughs and an incredibly good time!

2011 FJPs Announced & Autumn School

The 2011 Future Journalists Programme (FJP) Participants have been named!

Congratulations and a warm welcome to all our new participants:

1 Akhona Valashiya Walter Sisulu University
2 Elethu Magele Walter Sisulu University
3 Khutso Eunice Mabokela University of Limpopo
4 Moses Mashwahla Moreroa University of Limpopo
5Portia Makore University of Fort Hare
6Sesethu Malgas University of Fort Hare
7Nokuthula Doreen Wathi Durban University of Technology
8Wendy Nolwazi Ngcobo Durban University of Technology
9Duschanka Hitzeroth University of Zululand
10Cherity Pumla Luthuli University of Zululand
11Nokwazi Khumalo University of Cape Town
12Devaksha Vallabhjee University of Cape Town
13Thabiso Sihlali Tshwane University of Technology
14Pearl Nicodemus Tshwane University of Technology
15Busisiwe Busenga University of Johannesburg
16Bongiwe Olwethu Tutu Rhodes University
17Sibulele Magini Rhodes University
18Megan Stacy Deana Cape Peninsula University Technology
19Bhekimpilo Dungeni Cape Peninsula University Technology


Autumn School: Mobile Phones as Tools for Journalism

The first workshops of the year, the Autumn School, will take place in the week 4-8 April 2011. The FJPs (as they are now aply called) will be covering the theme Mobile Phones as Tools for Journalism. They will learn how to use their mobile phones to produce visual material for broadcast and for multimedia platforms. Communications is going 'mobile' in Africa, and the FJPs will be acquiring just the skill needed to be a technology-savvy-21st-century-journalist! The main lesson here is that journalists do not need thousand of dollars worth of equipment to be able to produce quality broadcast material. Armed with a simple mobile phone, equipped with standard video and audio capability, with the aid of readily available freeware, like Audacity to edit footage- any journalist can tell their story!

FJps will be have practical-intense sessions with sessions like 'Video and Your Mobile Phone', where they will use their 'how to' guides, experimenting with their footage, editing and posting their podcasts to various online platforms.


Collaboration with LoveLife

Beyond being apiring journalists, FJPs are young people, who are growing each day, experiencing life in its entirety. They, alike every other youth in the country, are grippling with and experiencing the essense of sexuality,love and life. Didn't we all! FJP is therefore collaborating with LoveLife for this Autumn School. FJPs will be working around the sub-theme 'Sexuality in Grahamstown' as a focus for this workshop. We thought it would be great to have LoveLife come in to speak about this topic; the politics of sexuality, and how to best report on its different facets. So, the combination of learning to use mobile phones as tools for journalism, and tackling the issue of how to report sexuality stories will not only benefit the students professionally, but they will also gain interpersonal growth. The students will have a field trip to the LoveLife offices in Grahamstown, interacting with the Grahamstown LoveLife volunteer group. They will do interviews and document some of the stories the volunteers have to share, producing videos in the end. These videos will be posted both on the FJP blogsite and on the LoveLife website.


The fun side of FJP

This workshop promises a significant and fun-learning curve for the FJPs. Of course, which student wouldn't have a great time under the creative and knowledgeable hand of Alette Schoon, TV Lecturer at Rhodes and FJP trainer! Alette has been experimenting with this theme for some time now, working with citizen journalists from Grocott's Mail, and has a lot to offer. More on the Grocott's Mail citizen journalism newsroom can be found HERE.


To Lookout For

RESULTS! We at FJP and Highway Africa are eager to see the results from this Autumn School. Truly, it epitomises what we are about. We believe in the empowerment of young African journalist and training them exploit the benefits and not fear new media technology. FJPs therefore should all be geared up for a great workshop. Take out those cell phones, cameras, mics and 'reporter-voices'. Cellphone Journalism, here we come!

By: Nqobile (Buthelezi) Sibisi
FJP Assistant Coordinator

FJP year kickstarts with National Promotional Drive

The 2011 Future Journalists Programme (FJP) Year started on a high note. Coordinator, Moagisi Letlhaku, and I, Assistant Coordinator, Nqobile Buthelezi, went on a national Promotional Drive, in the week of the 21st -28th February 2011.

AIM
There were three main purposes for this drive. The first was re-market FJP to its partner institutions and to introduce the concept of FJP to new institutions. The second was to showcase FJP’s success over the past 3 years since its inception in July 2007 and to strengthen the ongoing relationship and support for FJP. Thirdly, the promotional drive was a means for FJP coordinators to meet the broader student body and plant the seeds of inspiration and motivation in as many journalism students as possible.

TRAVEL AND SCHOOLS VISITED
The trip involved hopping around the different provinces, catching morning flights, driving through rush hours to get to the different institution, and in the later stages, being feverish from all the air conditioning and temperature changes! During this adventure, our good friend, Suzie- the Garmin (as we’ve decided to call her) was a good guide throughout the haste!

Amidst the travel & lodging madness, we managed to visit 8 institutions in 5 Provinces. In the viny Western Cape, it was the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT). In the province of opportunities, Gauteng, it was the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). In the vast Limpopo, it was the University of Limpopo. In tropical KwaZulu Natal, it was the Durban University of Technology (DUT). Finally, at home, the beloved frontier county, Eastern Cape, it was Walter Sisulu (WSU) University and Fort Hare University (UFH). Whilst en route to the University of Zululand, we were informed of a major strike that had started at the institution, and our meeting had to be cancelled.

MEETINGS & PRESENTATIONS
FJP Coordinators met with Heads of Departments (HOD’s) and educators, where there was a fruitful exchange of ideas and strengthening of relationships between FJP and all its partners. The various educators gave suggestions how FJP could be a better programme. They mentioned areas of journalism which they would like to be covered in the programme, and together, we devised ways in which the programme can be extended beyond the two FJP participants to include the broader student base.

Also for the first time, FJP coordinators interacted with the greater student body, in their own institutions. Students were introduced to the programme, using a PowerPoint presentation. A question and answer session was used to evaluate whether students had grasped the concept of FJP. Staying true to the culture of Highway Africa, all students who answered questions scored prizes. These were merchandises left over from the Highway Africa Conference freebies, including laptop bags, luggage bags, scarves, CDs and flash-sticks. Each price was accompanied by an Open Source Newspapers to inform students about latest industry discussion as debated at the Highway Africa Conference. The presentation was a motivation for students, who afterwards wanted to know the application procedure so they could stand a chance to be selected to participate in FJP.

ALUMNI INVOLVEMENT
It is one thing for FJP to market itself, but it is a different dynamic altogether if the programme’s alumni speak of their FJP experience themselves. It was pleasant indeed to see some alumni present during presentations at their respective institutions. Those alumni who are already in industry took time off from work in order to be present for the drive. They gave live testimonials on how they benefitted from FJP and how the skills they acquired is helping them in the newsroom. Alumni acted as motivational speakers and floor openers before FJP coordinators delivered the presentation. Truly, this is the kind of message we want to send out to students; that FJP is an empowerment programme that offers career and interpersonal growth, where alumni have the confidence to address large crowds and advocate for the programme. The presence of alumni and the camaraderie between them showed that FJP is indeed a home, where students can develop lifelong networks.

MOVING FORWARD
The national Promotional Drive was a great success. All objectives it set out to achieve were accomplished. The drive has also been a tone-setter for the 2011 FJP Year. Educators and students have been briefed on what the year has in store for the new group and we are confident that FJP will once again take in the best and most deserving students.
We are grateful to all the educators for allowing us into their institutions, to meet with us and for the opportunity to address students. We are also grateful to those students who showed interest, and to those who have applied in their institutions already.
This was indeed a worthy experience, to be able to meet with colleagues and pave a way forward for such a pioneering project in Africa.

Attitude of Grattitude

I can not begin to describe the feeling that i have towards the FJP, it always leaves me speechless but yet full of joy. After so long do i decide to write on this blog to express my sincere gratitude to everyone at FJP for the contribution they made to my success and the impact they have to my grooming.

FJP has helped me understand the essence of life as a whole. how to be my best, through learning, networking and building a family with everyone that i meet. It has showed me that there is more to life then just working but life is an umbrella for all my experiences be it good or bad.

To Mo and Nqo (now i sound like a poet) Sim unfortunately there is no Tim, thank you for the lessons that you have taught me. The arts of good journalism. If anyone had to ask me what makes good journalism I'm sure i would say FJP because that is where it all begins.

Grahamstown as small as it is has brought such good memories, lovely experiences and friends that i will treasure for life. The spirit of togetherness has always been so stong and and the laughters that we shared live in me forever.

To all the new FJPs i have only one thing to say to you, the spirit of togetherness, acceptence, love and companionship will get you through life and if you don't have it already don't leave fjp without.

NADI