During
my three months of gap year community service I have been involved in quite a
number of organizations and ideas; the Unite for Climate Zambia as a Youth
Climate Ambassador, Wildlife and
Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia have also introduced to the
Chongololo and Chipembele Society to help initiate Environmental Conservation
Clubs in schools, and I have also worked under a Swedish group with fellow
youths to create a youth magazine in Zambia. I find all the three programs very
interesting and skill developing in different ways.
I
enjoyed the Swedish program the most and it taught me a lot of new skills.
Unlike the other two programs it was totally a new experience, which made it
challenging, and therefore very fun.I joined the group late and my first
attendance was actually their second meeting as a group, therefore, I had
missed out on the highlights and the planning. However, it did not make me any
less active compared to the other members.
I joined the
group with the intention of assisting in the technical duties of the group but
i was shocked to hear my task was to produce a story for the magazine. I was
even more shocked when I realized that by produce they meant I had to write an
article by myself.I had a thousand reasons why I should hate the task and not
do it, including the fact that i was surrounded by good writers and not only
good writers but good writers who love writing. On the other hand I only had
one reason why I should go ahead with the task; I don’t quit, quitting is for
losers. I find it funny that one out-weighed a thousand.
My first
challenge was to suggest a possible story for the magazine that was in line
with the theme; work. The challenge wasn’t to suggest a story; instead, it was
suggesting a story that would be put in the magazine. I managed to suggest a
story and it turned out to be one of the stories we would put in the magazine.
My suggestion
was “Voluntary Unemployment”; it was a human interest story relating to the
fact that not all unemployed youths have no job opportunities instead they are
unemployed because they have high job preferences. This story required me to find
a young person who has a good academic reputation, graduated high school with
good grades, either has worked before or was offered a job and refused because
of the conditions, is still unemployed but really wants a job. A week later,
the second meeting came without me making any progress with my story and this
led to the facilitators thinking the task was too hard for me.
It was then
suggested that I should do a story focusing on a prostitute, the story should
be able to bring out the fact that circumstances led to the lady doing that
job. I was also expected include the dreams she had before she found herself in
that situation and find out from her if at all she plans on changing her
career. I attempted twice to carry out this task but it is very hard to talk to
these ladies if you don’t plan on offering them any money. Two days before
submission of the stories I decided to go back on my first story, I had lost
hope but I was not willing to be called a failure and so I put my all into it,
and I started searching for the perfect person. Fortunately, I was introduced
to a person who marched all the criteria we set. The following morning I went
to interview her and by the next day I had a full story to present to the
group.
Peder, the magazine’sphotographer,
remembered that I had mentioned my passion for photography during my first meeting
when I was trying to escape from writing the story and he offered me to help
him take the magazine cover photo. That immediate Monday we drove through
Lusaka hunting for the best photo that could illustrate the theme of the
magazine. By lunch we managed to capture
a lot of good shots of which two were selected to be used; one as the cover
photo and the other as the full page photo.
I had a lot of
fun being a journalist and even more fun learning how to use a professional
camera. The experience taught made me realize that a lot of thing can be
considered before a photo is called good.
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