Hope is where the Heart is
Sutherland Shire teachers have united with their Rwandan counterparts to restore the education system in the strife-torn African country.
Rwanda, a nation encumbered by civil war in the past, is still suffering the devastating impact of poverty today.
However, individuals, volunteers, organisations and governments are helping to restore Rwanda and its people through several ongoing projects, such as education, aimed at implementing the initial vision of Hope Rwanda “100 days of Hope” in 2006.
Hope Rwanda Education Team coordinator and Shire resident Michelle Shaw said education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle but only 13 per cent of Rwandan students go to secondary school.
“If a Rwandan student fails final secondary exams, they are often immediately employed as a teacher with little extra training, facing class sizes of over 70 students on average,” Mrs Shaw said.
While Rwanda has moved forward, the depth of the conflicts in 1994 have left an indelible imprint of suffering and pain.
“Current Rwandan teachers are often child survivors of the genocide, having faced severe trauma and dislocation,” Mrs Shaw said.
“With poor pay, feelings of failure and minimal classroom management skills, Rwandan teachers are discouraged and often leave the profession.”
Hope Rwanda Education Team is working in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Education to build capacity in Rwandan primary and secondary teachers through in-service training.
“Our volunteers seek to stand alongside Rwandan teachers, reaffirming that they are integral to the nation’s economic and social development, and indeed, more precious than gold,” Mrs Shaw said.
In a show of practical support, last week local teachers, residents and community groups got behind the 2008 Inaugural Walk of Hope, an 18km journey from Menai to post-event celebrations at Dunningham Park, Cronulla.
The walk raised over $11,000 to help support the training of teachers in Rwanda and increased awareness of the plight of the troubled nation.
Illawong Primary School teacher and participant Taryna Melville said: “The international community may have turned its back in the past, but now we have the opportunity to make a difference.”
To be a part of this project contact the Hope Office on 9659 2553, or email michelle.shaw@woodsshaw.com.au
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Week Five: General Rounds
Most newsrooms have journalists allocated to various rounds such as politics, police, education, industrial relations and so on. With this in mind, our class chose specific areas of interest to focus on. I was drawn to ‘community’ immediately because I thought the stories would be diverse, relatively easy to access and get ‘talent’ (‘interviews’ are so last semester). Yet I knew I wouldn’t be able to rely on personal experience for story ideas or limit interviews to family, friends and a few professors. As Meg Grant, the West Coast editor for Reader’s Digest says, “You really have to be fearless about approaching people and getting them to give you what you need” (Sumner and Miller, 2005, 4).
Stepping out of my comfort zone has been a big challenge. However, it has been very rewarding to ‘bag talent’ that you know will give your story the edge it needs. I have found so far that people in the community are happy to talk to you and are often flattered that you have taken an interest in them, or their organisation, for example, Michelle Shaw, the Education coordinator for Hope Rwanda, was all too happy to help. Community stories don’t involve the ego’s associated with high profile players such as politicians.
I heart community.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Students in a jam
A conga-line of red brake lights causes chaos across the University of Wollongong (UoW) campus during the early weeks of session as students, staff and visitors compete for limited parking spots.
Student complaints have centred on the carparks being full during peak periods,10am to 1.30pm Monday to Thursday, at the start of the academic year.
“I remember representatives from the uni coming to high schools in the Sutherland Shire encouraging students to consider Wollongong, even offering three UAI bonus points,” first-year student Zoe Hudson said.
“Why does it target students from The Shire when it does not effectively cater for their travelling requirements?”
The Keiraville Transport Working Group, which includes representatives from Wollongong City Council, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) and UoW student associations, acknowledged in 2005 that parking at the University was a controversial issue, yet the problem remains.
The 2008 UoW Parking Statement read: “Due to limited parking and the cost of travel, we encourage students to strongly consider alternate methods of travelling to uni. These include travelling by train, bus, or bicycle.”
Public transport, however, has not alleviated student disappointment and delay.
“They send letters to students at the start of session encouraging us to take public transport instead of driving, but the system is an absolute write-off – a bungled train line versus over crowded car parks,” fourth-year graduate Erin Sadler said.
“I can either drive for 45 minutes and then queue for 30 minutes for parking on campus, which doesn’t exist, or travel on a train for two hours and wait for a bus for 20 minutes.
“Both alternatives have proven to be time consuming and expensive, neither of which a student has in abundance.”
Parking on campus via a purchased entry permit is also very limited. Sold at the beginning of each year to about 4,000 of UoW’s 20,000 students, those who miss out are forced to pay daily to park in the multi-storey car park or on nearby streets, which angers residents.
Former Wollongong Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) President Jess Moore said students would end up paying more.
She has calculated that using the cheaper western car park three days a week at $3 a day would cost $117 each 13-week semester.
Last year’s parking permits cost between $60 and $100 a semester.
“This system is still privileging people who have the money. We have a huge parking problem at uni,” Ms Moore said.
However, WUSA is committed to finding an environmentally friendly alternative to the ongoing parking problem.
The Association’s web site said: “This parking issue will not simply be solved by the introduction of more car parking places, as this solution will only ultimately lead to an increase in traffic congestion and the requirement of an enormous investment towards upgrading existing local roads.”
“We must press on for a solution that is people and environment friendly.”
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Week Three: Writing a Story (remember to KISS)
‘There’s nothing to writing,’ US sports reporter Red Smith says, ‘All you have to do is sit down at the typewriter and open a vein’ (Fedler, 1993, ix).
Clarity is one of the core criteria of news writing. When you are pitching your story at a 12-year-old, it is very clear that it is not academic writing. It must be direct, concise and economical. This means you have to write short: short sentences, short paragraphs, short stories. Newspaper readers are pressed for time. You have to give them the news quickly, concisely and without a lot of extra words or information they don’t need. Your tone needs to be detached and objective. Use simple language. Think hard about every word you use. Is it necessary? Is there a more clear, concise way to say this?
(Did you find my short sentences just delicious?)
For example:
No: Biological sciences professor Karl Johnson passed away Tuesday at the age of 55, following a long, courageous battle with cancer. Yes: Biology professor Karl Johnson died of cancer Tuesday. He was 55.
Below are a list of questions that Shawn believed would help focus our stories:
- What is the story really about?
- What’s the news?
- What’s the story?
- What’s the image?
- How can I tell the story in 6 words?
- So what?
Here are some things I learnt from ‘Students in a jam’ – my university based story addressing the critical shortage of car parks at the start of session:
- When writing figures remember anything under ten is written as a word, and any figure over ten is a number. For example: “I can either drive for 45 minutes and then queue for 30 minutes for parking on campus, which doesn’t exist, or travel on a train for two hours and wait for a bus for 20 minutes.”
- Tight writing is good writing
Diva Dead
The queen of Australian racing, Makybe Diva and owner Tony Santic were killed yesterday in a one-vehicle crash on the Princess Highway, south of Berry.
At about 6am on Friday, Mr Santic’s maroon Holden commodore and horse float swerved off the wet curbed road. The owner and horse died instantly after smashing through barricades and rolling into a large ditch.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
“The crash may be connected to the heavy rainfall the previous night, however at this stage we are not ruling anything out,” Senior Constable Shawn Burns said.
The crash happened on a notorious stretch of road along the Princess Highway which has been the site of several accidents. The previous crash only two weeks ago, involving a man who was seriously injured. This case is also still under investigation.
Senior Constable Burns noted the ‘slippery when wet’ sign for drivers along the highway was marked but broken.
Makybe Diva galloped into the racing record books after winning her third Melbourne Cup in as many years. This took the Diva’s winnings to more than $14.5 million, an Australasian record. However, it is the place in Australian’s hearts for which she will be remembered, being described by jockey Glenn Boss as “a Phar-Lap the second”. Owner Tony Santic, the celebrated tuna baron from Port Lincoln in South Australia, was 56.
Mr Santic and Makybe Diva were travelling to Canberra to headline the Black Opal meet tomorrow.
Investigations are continuing into the crash, with a Coroner’s investigation underway.
A spokesperson from Makybe Diva’s stable will speak today.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)What is news?
“News is something someone somewhere wants to suppress…everything else is advertising.” Lord Northcliff
To be a successful journalist you must develop a “nose for the news”. In order to do this, the distinction between hard news and soft news and the distinctive styles of both must be clear. These ideas were fleshed out in class today.
A journalist’s role has been described as “comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable,” and covering hard news items aims to achieve this. Hard news covers politics, war, crime, health, public rounds. Soft news includes book launches, school fetes, cat stuck in tree, and they are usually found at the bottom of a news bulletin. However it’s important to remember that hard news topics can also have a soft edge. For example, a story on health from a hard news perspective would be a story on finding the cure for cancer, but a soft approach would focus on a person’s battle with cancer.
I find it very difficult to write about hard news items, without giving them a softer side, so it came as no surprise when my first piece came back red. I enjoy seasoning the story with a bit of flavour and colour through a descriptive lead or catchy word choices so it’s very challenging, because my impression of hard news means draining the ‘spunk’ out of the story.
Here’s what I learnt from ‘Diva Dead’ – covering the imaginary death of Makybe Diva and owner Tony Santic.
- When writing a hard news story, use the word “crash” over “accident”. Let’s not sugar coat anything now.
- The word ‘approximately’ is over-used. Try ‘near’, ‘around’, ‘about’.
- ‘Raining overnight’ sounds harder than a soft ‘miserable’.
- If the same word is in a sentence twice it is too much
- Almost every time, the word ‘that’ can be taken out
- One sentence represents one thought. Find the most efficient way to say it.
Week Two: First Impressions and Revision
“The First Law of Journalism is simply this: be interesting.” Benton Patterson
Without question, ‘JOUR311 – Newsroom Practice’ was the most daunting subject on my timetable. I liked the subject’s concept of creating a real-life news environment by pitching story ideas to our editor, being responsible for a round and working to deadlines. However, I was worried whether I’d be smart and savvy enough to produce quality copy each week. So I decided then and there in our first class to just concentrate on one story at a time.
In today’s class we did a bit of revision. Here’s the highlight package:
- What makes a story newsworthy or worthy of recycle bin?
News stories have three core criteria: interest, timeliness and clarity (Masterton, 1992, 21). Within these broad headings are six news values: consequence, proximity, conflict, human interest, prominence and novelty (Conley and Lamble, 2006, 83). If your story demonstrates one or more the newsworthiness of your piece can be guaranteed.
- Consequence represents the number of people who stand to be affected by the news, for example, a piece covering the federal election. The second is proximity and it’s important to keep in mind that a local murder for example, is of more interest that the same story overseas.
- Conflict is the staple of news. Conflict can include leadership clashes, the war in Iraq, local councils vs. state government, neighbours, sports teams and take overs.
- Human-interest stories focus on low-key people who are genuinely thrust into the limelight because of misfortune or good luck, for example, a lotto winner. Tragedy and overcoming adversity are at its core.
- Prominence has to do with stories about “who they are people” vs. what they’ve done, for example, Jennifer Aniston’s new boyfriend revealed. Public figures always have priority.
- And finally novelty stories describe the strange, odd, rare and unusual news, for example, it was John B Bogart, city editor of The New York Sun a century ago, who came up with a classic description: ‘When a dog bites a man, that is not news because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, it’s news’ (Conley and Lamble, 2006, 79). Readers do not want to be told commonplace things.
