The Sunday Mail
Chiedza Nyakanyanga, L6 Queen Elizabeth
Seven Queen Elizabeth students spent four days working as journalists for Zimpapers at Herald House under the School on the Shopfloor programme.
The young ladies comprising of form threes and lower sixes, included myself, Chiedza Nyakanyanga who was based at The Herald paper and specialized on court reporting, Pamela Chimutsa based at H-Metro; Dorrit Mwanza; Natalie Chasiya and Monalisa Madzeka who were in Kwayedza.
Mitchell Makore and Patience Masikinye were based at Sunday Mail. These ladies spent most of their time at the Civil court of Zimbabwe searching for stories for their respective papers.
They were each assigned to a senior journalist to whom they referred to as a “mentor”. Those in Kwayedza came across a “n’anga” in Chitungwiza and they had an experience of a lifetime.
“This was an epic experience” stated Natalie Chasiya and Dorrit Mwanza together with Monalisa Madzeka. “We were astounded by the Shona traditions and cultures as we were not so familiar with some of them. We were told to take off our shoes before going through some unique experiences as journalists with Mr Mapupu, a senior reporter for Kwayedza.”
Mitchell Makore under Sunday Mail got the opportunity to go the UNICEF press conference and a function at Parirenyatwa hospital. She was emotionally touched by the plight of the patients and met some of the Ministers.Patience Masikinye who was under Sunday Mail as well stated that “I learnt how to write a report and enjoyed the working environment. Since I specialized with religion I was exposed to different religious beliefs.
Pamela Chimutsa at H-Metro was overwhelmed by some of the cases that take place at the civil courts. She enjoyed her duty and when one of her articles was published, she was excited.
Dorrit Mwanza, who enjoyed the formal dressing, was also inspired by the experience.Monalisa Madzeka enjoyed working under the editors and enjoyed consulting them as she said “ they keep motivating me”. I spent of my time at the high court and the Supreme Court. I chose court reporting as my chosen career will have a lot to do with law.I got the opportunity to meet some of the magistrates and even got a closer view of the Chief justiceThis was certainly an amazing experience for the students as they got to live as working adults and they now view the world with a different approach. Knowing the processes that the newspaper undergoes before it reaches the retail outlets of Zimbabwe makes them unique.
Having to be referred to as journalist made them feel powerful.
Students, YOU CAN SEND YOUR ARTICLES THROUGH E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP or TEXT Just app Charles Mushinga on 0772936678 or send your articles, pictures, poetry, art . . . to Charles Mushinga at [email protected] or [email protected] or follow Charles Mushinga on Facebook or @charlesmushinga on Twitter. You can also post articles to The Sunday Mail Bridge, PO Box 396, Harare or call 0772936678.
