17 Jun 2015

Ms Ludo Chube is a senior report with Botswana Press Agency (BOPA); she is based in Kasane.

The young lady is blessed to be among young Batswana leaders who will proudly fly the country’s flag high across countries and continents after becoming one of this year’s ‘Lucky 13’ Mandela Washington fellows.

“This opportunity has been the biggest highlight of my young life and I cannot thank God enough for the stroke of luck,” says Ms Chube, 32, in an interview.

The Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the prestigious flagship programme of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI). 

Through the program, participants are afforded the opportunity of spending six weeks honing their leadership skills and networking with industry leaders and fellows from all over Africa.

The fellowship is open to aspiring and established young African leaders aged between the ages of 25 and 35, and there are three tracks under which applicants can apply; namely Public Management, Civic leadership and Business and entrepreneurship. 

“I have been selected under the Public Management track at Syracuse University in New York, USA,” she says, adding that during the last week of her sojourn, she will participate in a three-day summit hosted by US President Barack Obama for all the 500 worldwide fellows in Washington DC.

“I definitely want to come back a transformed individual who is globally minded and fully aware of the role I play in developing an economically viable, democratic and progressive Africa,” promises the young lady from Nswazwi village in the Bokalaka area.

On the journalism profession, Ms Chube says it is often one of the most condemned and least celebrated professions which she did not consider much during her early university days. 

However, eventually she found her footing and grew to love the profession because through a pen she could effect change. 

Now with a Bachelor’s Degree in Media studies (Public Relations and Journalism) from the University of Botswana, she has been a journalist for the past seven years with the department of Information Services.

She says journalism is a profession that is very misunderstood and the fact that scribes tend to have a polarizing effect on society is okay.

“Our job is to set the agenda and create discussions about different issues. The reality is that media forms a part of any healthy and functional democracy and should be viewed just as such,” she points out.

On her career, she says one of the highlights was covering the majestic listing of the Okavango Delta as a world heritage site last year in Doha, Qatar. 

“It was such a privilege to witness and to report on one of the most profound chapters of our country’s story,” she reminisces. 

Ms Chube currently heads the Kasane Information Services station where she covers a wide range of issues and events, including youth empowerment, gender-based violence, and environmental issues throughout the district.

As head of station; she also handles issues of management, including staff, fleet, offices, and supplies; she also mentors and coaches youth freelance journalists in her area.

Her other engagements include being a life member of the Red Cross Society and the Kasane Library committee, which seeks to promote literacy and document the history of Kasane.

Being a youth activist also, she says upon her return from the US, she will work with orphans and vulnerable children especially adolescent girls in the Chobe district to empower them with life skills. 

“Living in a small community like Kasane has made me realise that I am not just there to write and report stories. I am very much a part of those stories, and I have learnt that I could not afford to be a spectator; for instance, I actively participated in this year’s global 1Billion Rising campaign against gender based violence hosted in Kasane,” she says.

Ms Chube says she did not only report on that activity, but she also made sure that she mobilized the community to take part in it, especially through social media and by helping out with presentations.

At the time the event took place, statistics indicated that 112 cases of common assault were recorded in the year 2014 alone in the Chobe district, she said, adding that in January 2015 alone, already there were 91 cases. 

“Now statistics this high makes this problem my business,” she asserts, adding that, unfortunately, she has not won any awards yet, but that she has been nominated for some MISA awards in the last 2 years

“I was however selected by the Thompson Reuters Foundation for their course in Writing and Reporting News in 2013 in London, United Kingdom, which equipped me with fresh skills for the trade,” she says. 

Ms Chube says she is forever inspired by the people she meets through her work, including her encounter Mr Mogomotsi Gaebepe and the feature article she wrote about him and his home-made aircraft.

“Such encounters make journalism a colourful profession,” she says 

She encourages fellow youths to utilize social media for their own personal development because they spend so much time on social media but still fail to use that to their advantage. 

She wonders that the fellowship was advertised all over social media (Facebook) and shared so many times yet one cannot believe how many people do not know about it.

Social media presents a platform to network and explore the infinite possibilities that exist for our own good. 

The numbers of fellows are expected to double this coming year from 500 young African leaders to 1000 so no one must be left behind. ENDS