Local Journalist to participate in 2016 RAF Memorial Fellowship

Chosen from 193 countries around the world, Local Journalist, Kurt Campbell is among 15 Journalists that will be participating in this year’s edition of the Reham Al Farra Memorial Journalists Fellowship.

Campbell who currently writes for the online news agency, News Source Guyana will be representing Guyana and the Caribbean from September 10, 2016, to October 05, 2016.

He noted that the opportunity is a ‘dream come true’ as he was hoping to have such opportunities to further develop himself.

“I’ve always wanted to go on fellowships like these, thinks it’s enriching, speaks to self-development and I’ve always wanted the experience to interact with other journalists outside of Guyana and return home with that experience so that I can also share with my colleagues here. I am extremely overjoyed. I want to thank the United Nations for this opportunity to participate in the fellowship and I hope that upon my return, it would only lead to strengthening my career” Campbell said.

The RAF Memorial Fellowship is one that celebrates the journalists across the world. Reham Al Farra was killed during August 2003 bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq and In September 2003, the UN Department of Public Information decided to rename its annual training programme for young journalists in her memory.

He shared that getting to this point was not without its share of disappointments as this is not his first application to be a part of the program.

“In 2015, I had applied…when I applied, they did not select anyone from Guyana, they sent back the email saying they’re not selecting anyone from Guyana this year and I was very disappointed. But I did not let that disappointment get in the way…when it came out again in 2016, I applied.”

This year Kurt said he feels honoured to be the only journalist from the Caribbean and South America that will be participating in the fellowship and promised to represent the Region on the best level.

Other participants include Ivory Coast, Oman, Sudan, Malaysia, the Republic of Macedonia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nigeria and Kenya.

Kurt joined the media corps in 2012 at the state-media, National Communications Network (NCN)after completing his Diploma in Public Communication at the University of Guyana and since then he has had stints in radio, television and with online journalism.