IWMF Reporting Trip to Eastern DR Congo

The IWMF brought six international women journalists to Goma in January 2014 to cover economic development issues in North Kivu province.

Nastasya Tay, an independent journalist based in South Africa, stands on an elevated platform to capture street scenes of a busy intersection in Goma during the IWMF’s first Eastern DRC reporting trip.

Tshukudu (wooden push bike) drivers share the road with motos. Poor infrastructure, including crumbling roads, poses a barrier to development in the region.

Photo by Nastasya Tay

BBC journalist Grainne Harrington visits Mugunga 3, a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) near Goma. Harrington spoke to women and youth living in the camp about their livelihoods and struggles to make ends meet.

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Street view from a salon in Goma’s Birere neighborhood. Nastasya Tay visited salons around the city interviewing beauticians and salon customers for her story on Congolese women’s conceptions of beauty.

Photo by Nastasya Tay

Elaisha Stokes, a Canadian journalist who contributes regularly to The New York Times, visited Masisi to report on the booming cheese industry in North Kivu province. Due to its lush green hills, Masisi is known as the Switzerland of the DRC. Cheese producers claim that the grass and the climate in the region enhance the flavor of the cheese.

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IWMF reporting fellows Nastasya Tay, Karen Lowe and Grainne Harrington receive a briefing from Virunga National Park’s Southern Sector Warden Inocente Mburanumwe and Agribusiness Director Beau Davis before setting off on a once-in-alifetime gorilla trekking experience. Their visit coincided with Dian Fossey’s birthday.

IWMF Photo

Evelyn Iritani, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and senior editor for online media startup Bending Borders, snaps a photograph while gorilla trekking in Virunga National Park.

Iritani reflected: "There may be no better place to understand the tragic implications of Congo's violent past and the potential for change than Virunga.

Within a few hours of crossing the park’s border we were hiking through lush terraced hillsides, trading smiles with the goatherders and getting up close and personal with a family of endangered mountain gorillas.

Contrast that with the challenges that accompany an ambitious plan to bring world class tourism to a war zone, where rangers and staff risk their lives to protect the gorillas from corrupt officials, poachers and guerrillas. The outcome of this struggle is far from clear but offers hope.�

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IWMF reporting fellows had the opportunity to get up close to a male silverback in one of Virunga National Park’s Humba family of gorillas. Eco-tourism could be a powerful driver of economic development in North Kivu province.

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Karen Lowe, creator of Bending Borders, interviews Virunga National Park Director Emmanuel De Merode at Mikeno Lodge. De Merode briefed IWMF reporting fellows extensively on his vision for Virunga National Park, as well as the many challenges his rangers face in the line of duty. Just days before the IWMF’s visit, a ranger was killed in a clash with FDLR rebels.

De Merode expressed his determination to save the park and to create viable livelihoods for the people living around its boundaries in the face of ongoing security threats.

Photo by Evelyn Iritani

IWMF reporting fellows pose for a group photo at Lac Kivu Lodge in Goma.

Left to right: Elaisha Stokes, Nastasya Tay, April Simpson, Grainne Harrington, Karen Lowe, Evelyn Iritani.

Stokes reflected on the trip: “Goma is a wild place. Its monochromatic palate is in stark contrast with the frenetic energy that makes up the city. While I had visited Congo previously, this was my first time in Goma. The scale of the aid enterprises, the opulence of the wealthy, the poverty of the majority - all of it was overwhelming. While I consider myself a seasoned hand at reporting in sub Saharan Africa, it's hard for me to imagine navigating this place for the first time on my own. The IWMF provided me with a unique opportunity to stretch my reporting skills with the safety net of quality fixers and institutional support. I was able to take narrative risks and grow as a journalist. I learned how to navigate bureaucratic institutions. This kind of professional development is rare, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to participate.�

Three more EDRC reporting trips are planned this year. The next is tentatively scheduled for late March/early April 2014.

IWMF photo