By Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla | Tue., October 18, 12:11 PM
Participants on the Thomson Reuters Foundation/NORAD Women's Health and Opportunity course
The fifteen African journalists attending the Thomson Reuters Foundation/GBC training course on Women's Health and Opportunity were forthright in their expectations from the beginning. They didn't want to fall asleep listening to boring talks, without any interaction. The course trainers Lisa Anderson and Lisa Essex duly complied with their energy and enthusiasm.
An icebreaker session allowed the group to learn about each other on a more personal level. Introductions elicited much laughter, creating a friendly atmosphere. A run-through discussion of interview do's and don'ts led the journalists to their next task-writing a news story from a badly written press release.
Not all the journalists work in intense, short deadline-driven newsrooms, so some felt pressure at being given just an hour to file a 500 word story. We all managed to complete the task in time though, and the trainers mentioned they were impressed with the output.
Then it was time for cerebrum action, with a quiz testing knowledge of health statistics and terminology.
The main afternoon session brought forth a few blushes and giggles, as the journalists explored sensitive or taboo words which could arise when covering women's health stories. A few mentioned their editors wouldn't run stories which include anatomical terms or graphic details. Everybody learnt something new when hearing male-stick is a replacement for penis.
On the whole, the group was calm and mature in discussing the various subjects. Strategies were presented on how to deal with covering these stories; and respecting the rights of interviewees, especially minors.
The day ended with each person listing three things they learnt during the day. It was clear the session had been productive, with paradigms having been shifted, and knowledge bases expanded.
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