Durban — Crammed into a bus for 17 days, travelling for up to 15 hours at a time, and then finally stopping, only to be pelted by rain or scorched by the sun. This was the reality for five emerging journalists who travelled on the We Have Faith, Act Now for Climate Change Youth Caravan from Kenya, through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana to Durban, South Africa to attend, and cover, the UN climate change conference, COP17.
The only male journalist, Senegalese freelancer Youssouph Bodian, playfully refers to fellow journalists Audrey Wabwire of Kenya, Nigerian Tina Ogbonna and Lily Mengesha Bernice Attabong from Cameroon as his wives, and to each other they are sisters. They shared their experiences at a seminar hosted by allAfrica.com and the Africa Adaptation Programme as one of the side events of COP17.
As a student journalist, working as an intern with allAfrica, I found this a most valuable experience. It was especially helpful hearing from other African journalists who are out in the field, working under pressure to file stories, even when conditions – unusually severe weather – often hindered their work.
My own mind is always teeming with ideas; my five senses are always alert, stimulating a story idea. Hearing from these journalists, I realise that translating all this into a good story that will resonate with my readers is not always easy. Journalism training does not fully equip you for the world of work as a journalist. It is especially difficult when dealing with issues such climate change, with all the science, politics and jargon.
What struck me most while attending this fascinating event was that, although the group is already working on the environmental beat in their respective countries, their own knowledge and perspectives developed as they saw firsthand the affects of climate change during their trip through Africa on the caravan to COP17. Sitting at a press conference and listening to an academic, politician or scientist will produce a story. But how effective will it be? Will it make a difference in the global response to climate change?
The journalists’ advice? Put a face, a human voice into your story. Quoting statistics and figures is all good and well but the ordinary person does not relate to that. People are interested in other people, and with climate change having such an effect on ordinary people – often without them knowing exactly what is happening – stories like these are ideal to illustrate complex issues.
I also learned from this seminar to curb my enthusiasm. Since COP17 began I have been running around attending everything I can, without a particular focus. As much as I have not stuck to a particular beat, there has been a recurring theme in most of the events I have attended: women.
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In the 21st century women are still marginalized, society is still very patriarchal. This came up again as Wabwire of Kenya relayed how, when the caravan would stop to engage the community they were visiting, women would pass them by with babies on their backs. This showed that their priorities going to a clinic, or to market – regardless of the weather or any other factors.
It is these very same women who work to feed and support their families from their fields and small farms. Being an agrarian people, there is a need for Africans – and therefore also African journalists – to highlight the plight of our people. As reporters, we can help ordinary people to be aware that the unpredictability of weather patterns, which is changing traditional sowing and reaping times, is actually caused by a global phenomenon, and that this is something that we can all do something about.
Then the African voice will shout louder than those of the world’s polluters. Perhaps then, they will stop merely telling us to adapt, rather than also rectifying their own actions which cause climate change.
