It's almost time to go - my flight back to Maputo is this evening, Machrine and Hilary are leaving for home today too. Before I go off for some last-minute souvenir-shopping, there are a few things to say...
Thinking back, all the expectations I had before leaving my home city Maputo have been exceeded by far! I could barely believe it when the national director for the Media Institute for Southern Africa told me he was going to recommend me for Panos London's G8 team; I still wasn't convinced even when I was getting emails from Panos on an almost daily basis to make sure that the arrangements for the trip were taken care of.
It was only when Sameer put me, Machrine, Ndesanjo and John (the only ones that had already arrived in London) on a bus by St Paul's Cathedral that I finally believed it... For the first time in my career, I was going to be there at the centre of things (little did I know that the press area at Gleneagles wasn't quite the centre - more like the suburbs), and Mozambique would know what was going on at the G8 from me, not from the BBC World Service, or online articles from international media.
I have learned so much in this trip that it will take me some time to absorb everything I'm taking back to Mozambique.
I have learned a LOT from Jon Barnes, Panos London's Head of Globalisation, and his infinite patience to explain to us all about the agricultural subsidies and complicated aid and trade issues, and also from Rod Harbinson and the incredible amount of environmental specialists he knows. I've also learned a huge amount from Francesca Silvani and Anna Egan, the Editors, and their knowledge about every subject there is.
But in a way I feel most lucky to have had the chance to meet and to work with colleagues from all over my own continent, from whom I learned a great deal and for whom my admiration grew stronger every day. There are so many good memories of the last two weeks, running from one meeting to the other, from one conference to another still so fresh in my head...
I know I won't forget this opportunity and I know it will inspire me to try harder to be the best journalist I can be, even when the motivations for it seem so hard to find in my country. And I know I will ever again see international politics quite the same way.
I feel in these two weeks I have had to grow up both professionally and personally - faster than ever in my few years (compared with my AfricaVox colleagues) of working as a journalist.
There's really only one word left to say to everyone involved in AfricaVox - thanks.
Comments