By Andrew Kipkemboi
Features Editor, The Standard
Nairobi, Kenya
Hosted by The Sun (Baltimore)

At the end of the Catholic Relief Services' press conference, I walked up to one of the men and asked him what his name was. He picked up my pen, stretched out his hand and took my notebook. As he started to scribble his name, he read some of the questions I planned to ask Dr. Mukwege -- a visiting Congolese doctor who was talking about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- in a one-on-one at the end of the press conference.

I noticed the change in the man's eyes. His fingers let go of my pen. It fell down. He handed me back my notebook and then walked away to another nicely-dressed man. He pointed at me shaking his head. I stared at them blankly. "What have I done?" I asked myself silently. The man had introduced the doctor and the archbishop and had made comments that I needed to quote. I checked my notebook.

"Do you blame the Rwandan government for the war in Congo?" my question read. I thought that I had burnt my fingers. I feared that my interview with the doctor would be cancelled.

***********

Sitting at the feet of Jonathan Friendly, the President of the Alfred Friendly Foundation on a cold spring morning in March was like drawing knowledge from the fountain.

Here was a distinguished journalist and trainer telling us how to find a story and what could make a story a story in the context of an American newsroom. For the Fellows, there was no telling what the five months in a U.S. newsroom held out. It was like a journey into the wilderness. Or being thrown into the deep end of the pool and anyone who could tell us what to do to remain afloat made us feel better especially with the biting cold.

The experience at the Catholic Relief Services was the start for me and it was fortunate that I got to interview Mukwege later as planned and walk to the office with a story.

Looking back, I feel that I am a better journalist than I was. Working alongside hard-nosed journalists, feeling and experiencing the tenets of American journalism was an eye-opener. All was not in vain. There were the good times in good measure and the bad moments too. I was disappointed. I was excited. Most of the time, I learned new things.

Now, I have an open mind about many things; I have an expanded and refined worldview. I know new things and new meanings for the things that I knew before: What is a slug? A small soft creature, like a snail without a shell, that moves very slowly and often eats garden plants or a small amount of a strong alcohol drink. For example, he took another slug of whisky.

Now it also means the catch line of a story.

Who would have taught me how to create a blog, free-write, take video, edit and upload them on the web? No one. I am used to the culture of appreciation of ones efforts, even if feeble. It is morale boosting.

Inevitably, the experience has made me see things in black and white. I am conscious about things that I took for granted. My race, my accent, my walking style ... everything. That never bothered me in Nairobi. It never bothered anyone how I said some words or whether I said them. I have an uneasy feeling about returning to Nairobi.

I have gained weight as expected.

Now what next for me? The sky is the limit and the fellowship has thrown new, wide horizons in my career path. Are they achievable?

Was the path littered with roses? Not at all. Sometimes, I felt that I was out of depth with the rigors of American press and life. The obsession with time, maps and directions boggles me.

I tried to mug up all the street names. I got some, others were just too much. I thought there was something else worth putting in my brains other than street names that always left me confused and lost. How I made it, I have no idea. Looking back, I feel that I am none the worse for the experience.

There was the occasional scolding from my mentor for copy that came in late. And Harry Merritt, my mentor, opened my eyes to the culture of being on time. In Africa, we say there is no hurry, but then that is in the past now. The President of the Lutheran Church, Mr. John Nunes, during a lunch date that I had with him joked that the Africans invented the watch while the Americans invented the time.

All journalists want to get, keep and maintain sources. Sources in America never forget you and often would call to say thank you. As for me, the American Nuremastic Association sent me a fake $1 million dollar bill. It is not unusual for a source to give you an update in stories and help you research your story with helpful material. Whether this can be achieved in a slow-moving bureaucracy like the Government of Kenya is hard to tell. I will try and push the limit and see what happens.

I am used to the perfunctory smile, the effortless grin and the winking. I am used to holding the door for the next person and giving a nod and a smile too. I admire the give-away culture that is deep rooted. The urge to help others. No one beats the US with charities. There are over 20,000 of them, swimming in money and boasting considerable asset portfolio.

I admire the reduce, reuse, recycle campaign. Nothing is to be wasted here. Once, a bicycle of a deceased colleague was offered to me. I did not turn it down, but for lack of somewhere to park it at night at the apartment I could not take it.

Learning never ends, it is forever, but what you learn when, matters.

It was the right time to learn about multi-media. The trend in the world is such that people want to see the pictures and get the 1,000 words from it with the click of a button. The traditional print media is witnessing an unprecedented assault from the web, the radio, the TV and other sources of news.

I have planned to meet with my bosses about the fruits of my fellowship, they supported my application and they will want to know how to ready themselves for the battle. At The Baltimore Sun, I have seen people get laid off or take buyouts and being multi-skilled is a plus in such volatile times.

Free-writing is a wonderful skill that I learnt at the Poynter Institute during the mid-term seminar in June. "Just write what your mind thinks and see what a great writer you are," said Chris Scanlan, the Poynter trainer. I agree with him. When you learn to write freely, you write more crisply, thoughtfully and better. Your thoughts are best when you are relaxed.

Getting the story, researching the story, writing the story is a good technique that Harry passed on to me. After learning how to use Lexis-Nexis search tool and Google, I got down to work spending less time and submitting a well-researched, balanced story.

Robert Little's sojourn to Iraq to write about military healthcare was an eye opener about how the First Amendment makes his work easy. Security documents are classified in Kenya. It is the opposite in the United States. "You have to show the intent to cause a bridge of security, libel a person ... without that the story runs," said Little.

Six months is a life-changing experience and with the exposure, the skills and the knowledge gained, no one can be as enthusiastic as my bosses to see what good the training has been. The taste of the pudding is in the eating and I expect positive responses.

Thereafter, I plan to host whole day seminars with my colleagues in the office and in our bureaus in various Kenyan towns.

I plan to lay down my program two weeks after I set foot into the office with the program running every two weeks. Measuring success could be relative, but once a teacher, I will know from the responses in the training seminars.