The latest edition of the Cable News Network (CNN) television magazine, African Voices Change Makers, is focusing on the lives of two Africans involved in media training and wild life conservation.
The edition airing from Friday will celebrate Abaas Mpidi, a Ugandan and founder of the Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) and Brad Bestelink, Creative Director, Natural History Film Unit.
MCI is a youth-driven, non-profit organization committed to building the next generation of journalists in Africa through training, mentorship and experiential peer-to-peer learning. The body tries to give journalists the practical skills required to be a journalist.
The organization has become home to bright young men and women who are deeply passionate about creating the next generation of journalists through offering knowledge and solutions-based skills. They come from diverse backgrounds including radio, television, communication, creative design, strategy, and research.
In 2019, MCI collaborated with the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda to train 1,000 young journalists on effective reporting on climate change in the 2019 Climate Change Media Challenge. The event was held last November.
The second guest, Bestelink, is a producer, director and cinematographer and was reputed for filming the Nat Geo Wild Savage Kingdom series. Born and bred in Botswana, Bestelink exhibits deep interest in filming unusual predators, their habitats and behaviours.
The series was filmed in a place called Savute, which is in the northeast corner of Botswana. “There’s an ephemeral river that flows in there for 20 out of 100 years, and we managed to get in there during the five-year period when it flowed,” he explained in the programme.
Catch African Voices Change Makers on DSTV on Friday at 9.30 a.m. and on Saturday at 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. Other repeat broadcasts come up on Sunday at 5.00 a.m., 9.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m., with more repeats on Monday and Tuesday at 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. respectively.