All good things come to an end

Nasreen Bahadur


The JDD and CMP course was a whole new experience for me, and although it had it had its fair share of ups and downs, I would say this was probably the best course I’ve done this year. I enjoyed that we were able to put the theory we had learnt into practice and also exercise everything we’ve done this year in our different specialisations. This course helped us engage with the community and explored journalism in a way we have not done before. After getting a feel of the wards we were allocated in, it was up to us as a group to decide on what to do about it, this gave us a sense of agency, that we could make a contribution and make a difference to that community. As a group we worked well together to hold an eventful soccer tournament for the youth in order to tackle the issue of lack of recreational activities in the wards. This was a huge success and we hope that they continue to engage in sporting activities in their free time.

Working in a group required long hours of decisions and frustration, although we did share a couple of laughs here and there. It was a fun experience and interesting to see the different people’s ideas. I did find that working in a group took up a lot more time and one of the challenging things in the beginning was finding a suitable time for everyone to meet and work together. However we gained an understanding with each other and it all fell into place and we managed to create some amazing pieces of work.

I think the most challenging part of the course was trying to be objective. As a journalist we are taught to be objective and not to take sides, but after listening to the people and all their issues and concerns, it was very hard to gain a positive view of the municipality and the ward councillors. In a way it altered our values and there was a sense of social responsibility. This course was an eye opener as to what real journalism is about, for example running around to schedule interviews and meetings, take photographs, listen to the people and give them the opportunity to voice their concerns. Overall, I think it’s important for a journalist to engage in the wider community and deal with issues that is not usually dealt with, and through the JDD CMP course we were able to do that and much more.