A q&a on social media and journalism in the developing world

Sep 28 2012 under International | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at The Daily Dot on September 28, 2012. It was produced by Vancouver-based writer Lorraine Murphy.

From the shores of Vancouver to the back roads of Liberia, reporter Travis Lupick has been there, done that, and filed it before dawn. Starting as a 15-year-old schoolboy hucking newsprint at his uncle’s alt-weekly, he worked his way up to Web editor and then took his talent overseas to some of the liveliest areas on the planet: Bangkok, Bhutan, Malawi, and Monrovia.

While still contributing to that same alt-weekly, The Georgia Straight, he freelances for Al Jazeera English, The Toronto Star, and Africa Report, among others. At this precise moment, he’s based in Monrovia, Liberia.

“I never did pursue an actual degree in journalism,” he said. “I felt like there was never time.”

During his travels, the freelance reporter found time to compile a list of journalists on Twitter, which inspired our own roundup. He uses Twitter in his own work as well, posting as @tlupick. He currently has more than 2,000 followers.

We spoke with Lupick via email about his list and online journalism in general. Having moved from the most Facebooked city in the world to a place where fewer than 5 percent of the population is even online, he’s in a unique position to give some perspective on social media, print journalism, and the sometimes all-too-real world.

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Africa’s two female presidents join forces for women

May 9 2012 under liberia | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at Inter Press Service on May 9, 2012.

The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent.

Both Sirleaf and Banda have long championed women’s rights. And on April 29 in Monrovia, two years into what the African Union (AU) has declared the “Women’s Decade“, they pledged to work together to accelerate those efforts.

“This is an historic day,” Banda declared to a crowd that interrupted her speech with cheers and songs of celebration.

“Today is a day African women must rejoice,” she continued as Sirleaf stood by her side. “This is our day. And this is our year. And this is our decade!”

Sirleaf affirmed her – and Liberia’s – commitment to empower women.

“The two of us have great strength,” she said. “Together, we can do more to empower women and to ensure that women’s role in society is enhanced.” Sirleaf added that her country would work with the new Malawian government to advance women’s empowerment.

To be sure, the challenges before them are great. Using the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a barometer, Liberia and Malawi generally score low in the areas of gender equality and women’s empowerment, education for girls, and maternal health.

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Journalists intimidated for reporting on female genital mutilation in Liberia

Apr 4 2012 under liberia | Leave a comment

A version of this article was originally published at the Georgia Straight on March 31, 2012.

When we walked into the makeshift office that a friend had set up on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia, it felt like we were entering war room.

The apartment was big and open, and buzzing with activity. On one side, a group of women sat around a table covered in papers, laptops, half-eaten snacks, and bottles of juice. Across the room, a second group had positioned themselves on a number of sofas. They also had laptops open and headphones plugged in.

It was Wednesday, March 28, and these journalists were working on a story about female circumcision in Liberia (the practice is also known as female genital cutting, or female genital mutilation). They had a scoop and were cooperating to see the news break simultaneously across a number of Liberian outlets on the morning of March 30.

What they already knew was that the Minister of Gender and Development, Julia Duncan-Cassell, had, in an exclusive interview for select members from the group, outlined the clearest position on FGC taken to date by the government of Liberia.

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“This Needs to Stop”: Tempers Flare over the Practice of Female Circumcision in Liberia

Mar 30 2012 under liberia | Leave a comment

This article was originally published at Think Africa Press on March 30, 2012.

When Kulah Borbor’s daughter was 13 years old, she asked her mother if she could join Liberia’s secret Sande Society. Most Liberian women are members of the Sande, so her daughter’s request was nothing unusual. But Borbor, a gender-based violence officer with the West Point Women for Health and Development Organisation, immediately discouraged her daughter’s interest in the Sande.

“I told her, ‘What? You want to go join?’” Borbor recounted. “I took her in a room and I showed her.”

What Borbor shared with her daughter was one of the Sande’s open, but almost never spoken, secrets – that the society’s initiation includes female circumcision, otherwise known as female genital cutting (FGC), or female genital mutilation (FGM).

“I said, ‘That’s where they cut mine,” Borbor continued. “From that time, she hasn’t talked about it.”

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Looking back on the move from Bhutan to Malawi

Aug 31 2011 under malawi | 1 Comment

This article was originally published in Bhutan’s The Journalist on August 14, 2011.

A recent visitor to Bhutan comes face to face with an African reality

I didn’t wake up until the two of them were inside my bedroom. They were young men who had broken through my front door and then stood next to where I slept. They turned on the light, and I was shocked awake. They started shouting.

“Give us your money, give us your money or we will kill you,” one screamed.

I’d only been conscious for maybe a tenth of a second. But that’s about when I realized that I was no longer in Thimphu…

Let me step back.

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