My travels

01-10-10

While in Ghana, I'll be doing a 3-month journalism internship through projects-abroad, a for-profit volunteer and internship organisation that enlists thousands of participants every year.

After a 5-day stop over in Johannesburg, I arrive in Ghana to spend two months at the Business and Financial Times in Accra, Ghana. The newspaper is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and "provides in-depth coverage of the relevant issues in major sectors of the economy". This coverage ranges from mining to stock markets to aviation. I will be shadowing professional journalists and my overall responsibilities will depend on how well I prove myself while there.

I'm looking forward to this. The problems synonymous with Africa, from disease to poverty to corruption to civil conflict, are inexplicably tied into economic leadership and business is increasingly becoming the focus in many African nations, especially Ghana. The B&FT promotes itself as being the "longest-running and most authoritative business paper in Ghana". I hope that by working there, I'll learn how the business echelon of Ghanaian leadership operates and what it sees for the country's future, as well as the rest of Africa.

Once my business paper stint is up, I spend a month with the sports department of the TV3 Network, also in Accra. Again, I know Soccer to be very big in Ghana and I hope that my time here will provide a more social look at the country's direction. The Black Stars performed well in the World Cup too, so I expect the mood will be an excited one that I will be able to learn a lot from.

After my internships are over, I travel independently around East Africa for 4 weeks. I start out in Nairobi, Kenya and beyond this, I don't know yet, but I would love to see Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.