by Sandra Nyaira
Recently, the International Women’s Media Foundation asked me to travel to Los Angeles with interim executive director Liza Gross to talk about the IWMF and its programs. The IWMF has done so much for women journalists around the world and also for me personally, so I agreed without hesitation.
In 2002, the IWMF honored me with a Courage in Journalism Award for my work as editor at The Daily News in Harare. After that, I lived for many years in the United Kingdom because going back to Zimbabwe would mean arrest for me. Recently, I moved to Washington, D.C., where I work for the Voice of America Zimbabwe Service.
On the plane to Los Angeles, I thought of my colleagues in the developing world who every day are expected to do more than just report the news. They face many barriers. In Zimbabwe, for example, as political harassment has increased in the last ten years, the number of women journalists has drastically decreased, having an impact on almost every sector in the country.
I kept asking myself if I would be able to speak up for the world’s women journalists, many of whom are in hiding or are incarcerated just for doing their work. I thought of Jestina Mukoko, a former colleague from the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, now a human rights activist who has been branded an “enemy of the state” for daring to speak out and record the horrific details of wanton human rights abuses in our country.
Jestina was abducted from her home in her pajamas and for days people around the world prayed that she would be found alive. Just as we were all giving up and waiting for her body to be found dumped in a ditch – as has happened with political activists who have been abducted in Zimbabwe – we were relieved to learn she was still alive and would one day tell the world her story.
My mind wandered from Jestina to Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist, writer and human rights activist whom I met because she, too, won a Courage in Journalism Award from the IWMF in 2002. Anna was gunned down, no doubt because her work made some powerful people in Russia uncomfortable.
I had been asked to come to Los Angeles to speak with longtime IWMF supporters to encourage them to stay with us even as the credit crunch continues to bite. I also knew it was important to bring new people on board to support the organization’s powerful programs for women journalists around the globe.
I saw Los Angeles in a way that I had never seen it before. Doors opened, and I mean big doors. Men and women I never thought would come together to listen to an African girl speaking about the need to support an organization that opened many doors for her came out in full force. I was particularly humbled by a meeting at the home of Katie McGrath and J.J. Abrams. It lit my heart to know so many celebrities cared.
Brooke Shields gave me a big hug at the end of my speech. I had never been this close to Hollywood royalty, and it was humbling to see everyone who came to hear my story and support the IWMF. Their acceptance of me made me feel that I had tried to do justice to all the women journalists out there waiting on organizations like the IWMF to help them.
I met lawyers, business people and celebrities in Los Angeles. As I skipped and jumped from one appointment to the other, my prayer was that people would receive us well, remain staunch supporters of the IWMF or become new sources of support.
Many were surprised and thrilled to hear about the work that the IWMF does to help bring women journalists from around the world together in a bid to strengthen their roles in the media and further freedom of the press. Actress Holly Robinson Peete also left a lasting impression on me. She was not only interested in Zimbabwe as a country, she also wanted to know about women’s issues in Zimbabwe.
I was also heartened when Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein went out of his way to find ways to support the IWMF, even though his newspaper is reeling from financial problems.
My ultimate delight, though, came when I visited the set of The Bold and the Beautiful. I was a diligent viewer of the American soap opera many years ago in Zimbabwe, so meeting the producers and actors and taking pictures with them was a thrill.
It was a great way to finish our mission.
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2002 Courage in Journalism Award winner Sandra Nyaira of Zimbabwe works for the Voice of America in Washington, D.C.