海角大神

This article appeared in the July 23, 2019 edition of the Monitor Daily.

Read 07/23 edition

One journalist鈥檚 hopes to help his country

Greg Fitzgerald/海角大神
Chol Duang, second from left, and Zhikona Miso, fourth from left, visited 海角大神 newsroom as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for young African leaders. They both have spent six weeks at Bridgewater State University's program in Leadership in Public Management.
Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

Welcome to your Daily. Today鈥檚 five hand-picked stories look at one unusual effect of hyperpartisanship, Britain鈥檚 need for friends, a patient wait for change in Venezuela, climate collaboration in Louisiana, and books that give a deeper look at migration.

But first, I鈥檇 like to start with someone I met today.

Chol Duang embodies the hope of South Sudan. In his trim gray suit, with his fluent English and bright smile, he is a symbol of what South Sudan can be 鈥 engaging, educated, and talented. He鈥檚 in the Boston area for a U.S. State Department-run leadership program, but he came to the Monitor with a specific question: How can I become a better journalist?

He works for state-run television news and once, after reporting on a spate of military rapes in a refugee camp, officials confiscated all his footage. 鈥淚鈥檓 in the middle,鈥 he says, caught between government bosses and the public 鈥 and all with only three years鈥 experience as a journalist. Like his country, he鈥檚 finding his way.

But the impression he left was that he already has something more important than journalistic experience. Speaking of his hopes, Mr. Duang said, you have to 鈥渂uild yourself up first to help others.鈥 That was really why he had come to America and the Monitor. Humbly, he wants to serve, to improve, and to lift his fellow citizens. In the list of virtues that will most help South Sudan and the world, that could be right at the top.


This article appeared in the July 23, 2019 edition of the Monitor Daily.

Read 07/23 edition
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