The Nation Media Group`s publications widely read throughout East Africa. I also looked forward to learning more about how the Aga Khan Development Network and its portfolio of companies – especially the Nation Media Group – were contributing to East Africa's economic progress. My mother lived in Kampala, Uganda, and left the country with her family under Idi Amin. My father grew up in Zanzibar in 1969, he received a scholarship to attend college in the United States. On a personal level, I hoped to explore the part of the world where my parents came from.
I also hoped to understand the reasons why it endured dramatic and bloody unrest following a disputed presidential contest in December 2007. In my case, I had never been to Kenya before, and I saw this as an opportunity to study the country's current affairs. Good journalists learn quickly and can assemble a bird's-eye view of complex issues and disciplines. Journalists are often placed in unfamiliar situations and told by their editors to write about new topics at short notice. Professionally, it seemed like a good challenge. This meant that my first job out of school would be as a news reporter on the streets of Nairobi, a thrilling – but nonetheless daunting – prospect. Not long before my departure, I had graduated from Columbia University's journalism programme and received a “Young Professionals in Media” fellowship from Aga Khan Foundation Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency. In July 2008, I travelled to Kenya to spend eight months at the Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group's flagship newspaper.
0 kommentar(er)
