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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!