The week has flown by like hot rod slicing through butter but the memories and lessons learnt are still very fresh. We, editors of different media houses and a handful of lecturers from journalism schools had a unique opportunity to get training on how the Internet and Social Media is changing the lives of people and traditional journalism (if you will allow the term).
I wouldn't want to down to every detail on what we were taught and therefore I will summary by sharing with you what I term the icing of the cake of the training, an audience with renonwed blogger Majid Mjengwa.
For a person so well known for his blog, it was quite enchantering to find him so humble and totally down to earth (Very untypical of a person from the great land of Bongo. Being famous in Bongo is a passport of disrespect people).
Anyways, Majid shared with us his experiences, the ups and downs of blogging and being a blogger espeically of social issues and gave us tips on being a part of the social media and tips of life.
I have to say it was very intriguing to see how he relates same things to a big picture. Take this for example. He asked why children always fall before they are able to walk. I scratched myself bald and still didn't come up with an answer. The answer was actually right there in front of us, children fall because they concentrate on their feet and not what's ahead of them.
Relate that Tanzania and the leaders that lead this nation. Are they forward looking people? Well you guess is as good as mine!
Two important tips to life and to blogging. One, always use your experience, it is the best teacher. Majid narrated a story to us about an experiment he conducted. He asked Tanzania and Swedish kids the same question, "If there are ten birds on a tree and you stone one down, how many remain?". Well, the Swedish kids said nine because it was simple mathematics but the Tanzanian kids said zero because they have experienced it, when you stone one down, the rest fly away.
Two, never discourage talent but unfortunately this is happening every other day in our homes. A child sings in the shower, the parents discourages them by saying that they have a voice of a crocking toad. When your child whilst doing their homework is also sketches the dress of her mummy, the father barks, demanding that they concentrate on their homework.
In other words without mingling talent and experience in both your life and blogging, the possibility of reaching anywhere could be difficult. He left us with three values, know who you and where you are from, have belief in yourself and top above all DARE TO TRY. Don't be fooled by small achievements, there is bigger fish out there.
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