Discovering success at MIJ

Two years ago, Simona Siad began her jhr internship at The Daily Times in Blantyre, Malawi. After a few months, her efforts extended beyond the newsroom to a classroom down the road at the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ).

“The classroom was a really unique place to work with young journalists on human rights issues,” proclaims Siad. To this day, her impact resonates among MIJ students.

Archibald Kasakura, a 30-year-old diploma student at MIJ, shares the impact Siad had on his journalism skills. “Before she came onto the scene, I didn’t know how to write features,”Kasakura recalls, “Simona made me what I am today.”

When Kasakura first started writing, he relied on Siad for about 70 percent of his work. “Initially, I thought she was being so hard on me, but now I know it was part of the growing process,” he says. But these days, Kasakura works independently at producing high-quality stories on a regular basis.

Over the past couple of years, Kasakura has written nearly 40 articles. After his first article was published, the ambitious student said that he “gathered the courage to keep writing.” Focusing on human rights features, Kasakura has published stories on children’s rights (issues of forced labour and sexual abuse), the rights of prisoners living with HIV, the right to religion and free primary education, and most recently, Malawi’s development since independence in 1964.

Keen to expose human right issues, Kasakura uses his downtime between classes to freelance his articles. Writing on a nearly broken-down laptop that he borrows from his uncle, Kasakura recognizes the value of his work.

“I used to see human rights as something that doesn’t apply to Malawians, but now I see the importance of them,” he states. “[Simona] has opened my eyes.”

Siad and Kasakura worked toward making everyone on the world fully aware of their rights–at the core of jhr’s mandate. She remembers him fondly, “Archibald is a really special student…I could tell right away that he had an incredible enthusiasm for human rights reporting.”

Kasakura says, “As a reporter, I have a duty to see that human rights of Malawians are respected.” He firmly believes that writing such stories will create change.

Initially, Kasakura wanted to become a lawyer but he was always interested in writing. Upon being rejected from law school and receiving alternate suggestions that he study journalism, he decided to enroll at MIJ. Looking around the office, Kasakura declares with poised confidence, “This is where I belong.”