Dispelling a myth
Rob Crilly, a Nairobi-based freelancer, kindly thought to pick up my comments about how too many journalists cover Sudan from Nairobi - and did so in that gentlemanly manner so befitting of an Irishman abroad, where he declined to offer any counter-attack.
But his posting made me think that I really must dispell a myth that seems to have surrounded my time in Sudan. And that is that I am a teacher here and occasional freelancer.
The same thing happened with a blog post during the Gillian Gibbons affair, with some blogger (I have lost the link) assumed I was working at Unity High School.
Then, the other week, at the Queen’s Birthday in the British Embassy (Lawd bless you, ma’am), the head of Reuters in Khartoum introduced me to someone as a teacher and part-time journalist.
The reality is that I now spend far more hours writing than I do teaching - which includes, of course, this book we’re just finishing.
So, in reality, I am a freelance journalist in Khartoum and an occasional teacher.
Tags: freelance, journalism, khartoum, Rob Crilly, sudan, teaching
May 8, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Glad you took it in good spirit. That said, I think you do the Nairobi press pack a disservice. Surely one of the key skills for any journalist is to be able to turn up in a place and pick up the thread of a story at the drop of a hat. Nairobi is the best place to be - communications, geography, services and yes booze and visas - to cover East Africa, if not the whole continent.
May 15, 2008 at 10:56 pm
He picked a good picture of you in your finest Dr Evil pose