Author Archives: Renee Barnes

SHIRLEY Mauludu – Experience with Asia Pacific Journalism Centre: 2015 Fellowship

It was actually a privilege for me to be a participant in the 2015 APJC Fellowship. It is an exciting experience. I must say I was a bit nervous during the first few days as I didn’t know how I would react and respond to the new environment, the people and my fellow participants as well. But I appreciate the fact that the fellows were able to open up and share their experiences and knowledge even given the cultural and communication barriers.

I also appreciate the fact that our guests and facilitators were very patient and I very much appreciate the time they have to share with us their knowledge and experiences. Personally all the sessions were very enlightening. I’m glad I am a participant of this year’s fellowship.

I owe it to my bosses for having that confidence and trust in nominating me and of course, I’m personally grateful for the Australian government for funding such a programme.

I’m sure whatever I learnt during my 5 weeks here in Australia will go a long way with me as an individual, for the company I’m working for and for my country as a whole.

Thank you APJC for the experience!

Shirley during tour around Melbourne city first day after arrival for 2015 fellowship

Shirley during tour around Melbourne city first day after arrival for 2015 fellowship

 

Experiencing APJC -Anita Roberts

Those eyes, fixed on the computer screens wanting to discover more in the cold weather of the Australia’s most livable city, Melbourne .

These are the members of a vibrant team of young journalist from Asia and the Pacific.

The participants are currently attending a five weeks course of Journalism Course in Australia. I am one of them. So much I have learnt , much more to discover.

Time flies very quickly here. Our two first week are over and you could feel the load of ‘information’ swirling in your head.

Coming from a small country with a small media, each day is educational.

I am looking forward to learn more in the next three weeks. I’ve had remind myself not to sleep a lot but enjoy Melbourne.

With new friends

Participants of The APJC Training

APJC FELLOWSHIP

Hi, I’m Mark Kayok and I’m one of the 17 journalists  participating in the Asia Pacific Journalism Center (APJC) Fellowship Program.

I’m glad to be participating in the group and I have actually absorbed a lot of information over the last couple of days.

APJC is basically about bringing together media personnel in particular journalists from the Asia Pacific Region together and teaching them new knowledge and skills on how to become drivers of change through their profession within their respective media organizations.

More in particular, APJC focus and emphasis on issues affecting women and how women can contribute as agents of change in the development of a country’s economy and through various other development aspects as well.

There are lots of things I Iearnt but the most important thing that inspires me the most is to really know what my values are and for others as well in order to create and strengthen a healthy relationship and to build a conducive working environment for all within my organization.

I also find that under leadership, the Components of Emotional Interlligence especially anger management is crucial in my organization and which is obviously missing from the work place.

I also realized that more needs to be done in terms of reporting about gender equality and empowering women to have a voice and stand up in societies and communities.

In fact back in PNG less prominence or little attention is being given to issues affecting women and frankly, there’s less reporting on issues affecting women.

Technology is another important tool I find is more applicable to my profession.

As a Televison and Radio Journalist, the different types of social media starting from tweeter to instergram, buzzfeed and facebook among others are very important to effectively deliver news and information to the audience.

However the major obsticle in using these apps is the accessibility to the use of internet back in my country.

Hence I’d like to see this is improved in my organization through improved reporting and more program content developed to empower women.

Apart from the APJC Fellowship, Melbourne is the most liveable city to live in but for me its just the cold weather that’s giving me a hard time.

But I hope to overcome the freezing nights and the coldness that’s been bothering me over the last couple of days.

MY MELBOURNE EXPERIENCE

BY GARY HATIGEVA

Melbourne a more far-reaching change from my city in my home country: Solomon Islands.

Gary @ Mel Museum

Me loving my experience here in Melbourne, Australia

Gary @ the Kitchen

The weirdest part of my trip to Australia is that I get to cook my own breakfast and dinner 🙂

Although it did feel like an adventure, coming from Solomon Islands to Australia was quite overwhelming and scary. I did feel homesick but with my busy schedule in training under the program I came, I come to fall in love with the culture and I’ve been enjoying all the differences. Although the sun is bright but not hot as it is in my home country, the clean air, reliable and efficient transportation system, friendly people, no rubbish and no holes on the streets, four seasons and cheap coffee everywhere, what more could I ask for? However, living without immediate family support could be hard at times, especially when laundry is mounting up, when its breakfast or dinner time because the very people whom we’d share cooking together or in most case cook and prepare meals are all back home in Solomon Islands.

With new friends

Coming from very different backgrounds and cultures, but as a media family, with one goal, to learn…

Despite the tough though cold weather, I still think it is a great opportunity and privilege to come and do training in Australia, which is all thanks to the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre Fellowship where I get to learn a lot of new things in such a small period. As someone who has been accepted to train in a lot of media trainings, multimedia for that matter, but with the APJC Fellowship training, I also like the fact that they it equips me with more tools that I know for sure will help and enhance my knowledge of how I work around issues, using social media. It is also great making new friends with people from different backgrounds and trying my best to learn different languages.

At training

One of our very helpful and active instructors on Social Media at the APJC Fellowship, Renee Barnes

I also love the fact that I’m in a place where different opinions are all heard and respected, where physical and verbal violence is not a way of disagreeing, and it’s awesome how all the possibilities and opportunities are just on the plate.  The funny thing is, I am not using all of the multimedia tools and social network avenues back in the Solomon Islands, particularly for the News Agency that I currently am working for, but I am hoping that I can go back and push to have all of what I have learnt put in to practice J

After all, I think we should really enjoy the experience of studying and training here in Melbourne, even though most of us are facing difficult times with the weather. As tough as they may be (parts of the fellowship training), ahead of us is knowledge and skills obtained, but all in all, being here in Melbourne has been a terrific experience for me 😉

WP_20150510_10_07_59_Pro

A spectacular view of the Melbourne City from my room. Melbourne in my experience is a city that never sleeps…

And If I’m given an opportunity to come back and work in Australia, I will choose Melbourne City or at least somewhere closer to Melbourne City… 😀

Multicultural education in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Dian Lestari, Indonesian journalist

I am a coordinator of West Kalimantan Journalist’s Association for Diversity a.k.a in Bahasa Indonesia is Serikat Jurnalis untuk Keberagaman (Sejuk) Kalimantan Barat. This organization form in Jakarta since 2008 and at Pontianak branch since 23 February 2014. Besides journalists, Sejuk member is academicians and NGO’s activist.

Sejuk (www.sejuk.org) focus on issue about human rights, gender equality, tolerance of religion and journalism is very important in my province, wich has witnessed 14 episodes of ethnic-based violence from 1962 to 2000.

I want to promote multicutural education as the best way to spread peace and to dispel ethnic tensions and suspicions. Now I am doing research with Gadjah Mada University Jogjakarta, about impact of multicultural education at junior high school in West Kalimantan.