The 2012 International Reporting Project’s Kenya Bloggers Trip

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This spring I had the good fortune of taking on a five-month contract with the International Reporting Project (IRP) as the coordinating producer of its Kenya Bloggers Trip on sexual and reproductive health. Headquartered in Washington, DC at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Service, the IRP provides opportunities for journalists to go overseas to report on critical issues that are under covered in the mainstream media. The Kenya Bloggers Trip is the IRP’s first social media venture, and it also marks the first time the IRP has included journalists from across the globe.

My role was to travel on an advanced trip to Kenya in April to research the aforementioned topics and then set up an eight-day investigative trip for the chosen bloggers. This week I returned to Kenya with the team. Since Sunday, we have been on a journey through Kenya’s city slums, impoverished rural communities, and low-income hospitals to better understand the aforementioned topic. We have met some incredible Kenyans who have shared their struggles with HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, the loss of a baby or young child, sexual assault and domestic violence, and the overall hardships of living on less than a dollar a day. We have also witnessed through a wide array of grassroots, research, and international aid organizations how these ills can be curbed, thus making Kenya and the rest of the world a happier, healthier, safer place for everyone.

I am really honored to be working with such amazing people – both our sources and the IRP blogger team. Each day has brought new smiles and tears, new learning opportunities, and a greater sense of how interconnected this world really is.

Please check out the bloggers’ work at the IRP website:

http://internationalreportingproject.org/gatekeeper-trips/view/kenya-2012

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