Sheziville: When all is said and done...Reflecting back.

When we were presented with the assignment I was very happy and enthusiastic about the topic and the brief we received. The topic at hand required us to delve deeper into the world of refugees using a person or organisation, I was of cause a little hesitant about it as I was afraid of going into the world of a refugee.

For my first interviewee I headed straight to the refugee home affairs centre on Che Guevara Road formally known as Moore Road, searching for a subject to interview. After asking around a while and many “No sorry” Bornface Chakadeya agreed. Born in Zimbabwe the young 20 year old is almost my age and yet our experiences couldn’t be further from what one would normally expect from a young man this age. After agreeing to talk to me his brother walked in the middle of the interview changing the mood, Bornface told me his brother had warned him not to talk too much. This change the whole mood and it suddenly dawned to me that I, along with countless others who come seeking interviews from foreign nationals are not trusted by the majority of foreigners whether displaced or otherwise.

I found it particularly challenging turning Bornface story into a hard news piece. When I was starting my second piece I believed that every story relating and touching the core of refugees could be covered. However I ended up being confused with many ideas on what we should do seemed to come from all sides from my classmates, when I finally knew what to cover. The confusion on my behalf led me to find the task very daunting. By the time I had to compile my package the edit suits converted my video and audio into shortcuts, I then cleaned the shortcuts only to find my video had converted itself into audio only not showing any picture. The video is now stataring instead of nmoving. This became a very very frustrating process which I do not wish to repeat again.

Overall I enjoyed the topic but not the entire process of executing the brief and the topic.

A protester holding up a poster during the Congolese nationals strike at Botha Garden last month.