(66): Why you should be a journalist? IV

Corporate communications is another growing sector in the world of media and communications. Companies, government agencies, financial institutions etc., are interested in having a favourable image among their publics. They also like to engage their staff on their internal communication strategy so that the employees can easily help the institution to achieve its corporate objective.

This is one area in which you can decide to build your own career. Having said that, it is also an area where experience is valued. Depending on the organization, having an experience in journalism and membership of professional bodies such as the Institute for Public Relations, Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations etc, will be an added advantage.

As I discussed earlier in this series, ability to write, understanding of international languages and the use of social media will be an added advantage. This is so because at the moment CEO’s are interested in attracting young talents, and having a positive image among this category of media users. Sometimes the Chief Executives organize questions and answer sessions on twitter so that they interact with people, gauge the image of the organization before the public, and promote its standing nationally and internationally.

Freelancing is another aspect of journalism and communication which you can use to develop a career, although sometimes it can be risky because you do not have a regular income. However it has one unique advantage, being independent and self-employed. Freelance journalists are normally contracted by media organisations as a supplement to their permanent staff. But before making a decision to embark on freelance journalism you need to look at the advantages and disadvantages. First of all as a freelance journalist you have the freedom to decide when to work and when to rest.

Secondly, you can take your time to conduct rigorous research and develop a story which the journalist who is permanently employed may not have the luxury to enjoy, due the pressure of deadlines which is common in news rooms. Thirdly, if you build an excellent reputation as a freelance journalist, you might be lucky to have different media organisations being interested in your services, this could help in getting more regular income, and you will also be in a position to negotiate the offers you received. When you decide to take full time employment, being a freelance journalist sometimes makes it easier since your work might have featured in different media organisations.

On the other hand, there is a lot of uncertainty in freelance journalism. I was once freelancing for a media organisation, and sometimes you can spend a week or more without a single story taken from you. For those who use freelancing as a means of earning a livelihood that could be challenging.  There is also the risk of a person getting into trouble spots which could put his life in danger because he is looking for stories that will appeal to his clients. Finally you risk working without developing a career. So you need to weigh your options and decide what you think is best for you. For students, and journalists on temporary employment, freelance journalism could be an opportunity to supplement their income and gather more experience. It is also good for those on retirement who would like to avoid the daily pressure from editors.

Citizen journalism is another area which you can use to develop yourself as a journalist. Although there is debate on whether citizen journalism should be considered as true journalism, I believe citizen journalism has some advantages because of the influence of social media like facebook and twitter  which provide ample opportunity for alternative news. There are so many free platforms for you to start practicing, which you can also use as evidence of output when you attend interviews.

Google and Wordpress for examples have free platforms for you to write stories, publish articles, develop picture galleries etc. Never underestimate the power of blogging, as discussed by Eric Schmidt of Google during a lecture to some university students, there are more people earning their livelihood using blogging than the total number of lawyers in the United States. The very area you live today could be the centre of news tomorrow, and if you are already blogging, your stories could lead the way before media organisations arrive at the venue.

A much bigger advantage of citizen journalism is that you can publish your ideas without unnecessary censorship from editors who would like to make sure that news items conform to the corporate interest of the media organization they work for. Understand that through journalism you can make a lot of difference to the lives of the people locally, nationally and internationally. Why not grab that opportunity now?

Concluded

3:40pm

13.09.1434

22.07.2013

(65): Why you should be a journalist? III

Having acquired the necessary skills to be relevant in the 21^st century, an additional advantage of journalism and communications studies is that it offers you different career choices. In this part of the series, I will concentrate on five of them, namely, journalism practice, academia, corporate communications, freelancing and citizen journalism.

Working for radio, television, newspapers or magazine can be a fulfilling experience, though challenging. If you look at the history of journalism, some of the leading novelists, authors and literary icons the world celebrates were actually journalists at a point in time, in fact some of them use journalism to promote their intellectual output. Here I am talking about thinkers like Karl Marx who worked as the foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune. The likes of George Orwell, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, and even our contemporaries like the famous war correspondent Martha Gelhorn, John Pilger and Robert Fisk became household names because of their journalism practice. If there is one reason why you should be a journalist, these are the names to draw inspiration from.

They practiced journalism to change society and question the powers that be. They epitomized the famous saying that the duty of a journalist is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. They fought against injustice like the effort of Charles Dickens through the newspapers to fight for the right of the working class in England, or Karl Marx’s effort to expose British colonial imperialism, despite the low wages that he earns. In fact former US president John Kennedy at the peak of the cold war accused the New York Tribune, which employed Marx as its foreign correspondent for creating the radical ideas of Karl Mark because they do not pay him enough wages. According to President Kennedy, if the New York Tribune had treated Karl Mark more kindly, history would have been different. Even in our shores, the radical journalism of Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Herbert Macaulay and Abubakar Imam were partly responsible for fighting for our independence. What is different between the journalism of these heroes and what obtains today is that they were not practicing journalism to earn some wages only, but they practice to serve as the voice of the people. So here is a choice for you.

The second option is the academia. In the last hundred years, journalism has seen tremendous transformation in the academia. A combination of sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, historians and linguists have come together to produce a pedagogical discipline known as mass communication with the aim of professionalizing this important area of the social sciences. More structured courses were developed in news writing, ethics and journalism; broadcasting regulations etc. the attempt to professionalise journalism has made degrees in journalism attractive both in the news industry and the academia.

To be a successful academic, postgraduate study is essential. Therefore, those who intend to take this route should focus on acquiring both master’s degree and PhD. They should also be mindful of the changing nature of the academia. Just ten years ago, a PhD can guarantee you a job in the academia. This can perhaps be the case in many developing countries. But beware that in many universities around the world at the moment, a PhD is just a qualification, but to get employment you must back it up with serious publications in reputable journals. Some universities have even changed the way to write the PhD thesis, instead of producing that bulky document which ends up being lost in library shelves, the PhD is conducted by publication. The student is asked to publish two or three top research papers, after which he would compile the publications and submit for assessment. It might sound easy, but I can guarantee that it is sometimes easier to write a 300 to 400 pages dissertation than to publish in some journals because of the rigorous nature of the review process and the waiting period. This is not to scare you, but to let you know the options that are available, and with determination you can make it.

Another alternative way of joining the academia is to build a successful career in journalism and then transfer to the academia; and transform your experience into research for the benefit of the students and the profession. Certainly those who have the industry experience, when they joined the academia and acquire the necessary research skills, either through postgraduate qualifications or by publications tend to make a difference. One of the leading professors of international communication once told me that one of the reasons why his books became key texts in this area is because he has previously worked in some international news agencies, and that experience has significantly contributed in making his books relevant in the academia.

To be continued

Re: Wisal TV and satellite broadcasting in Hausa

As a follow up to the article I wrote few months back on Wisal TV, I have been informed that the TV is now live and can be watched on Eutelsat 180181 h 30000.

10:12am

06.09.1434

15.07.2013

(64): Why you should be a journalist? II

In the 21^st century as some experts will argue, you do not have to worry about permanent employment, but permanent employability. Permanent employability is what makes you relevant anywhere, anytime and in any organization. One profession in which I find this statement to be true is journalism. The most important word in my opinion for both practicing and would-be journalists is skill acquisition.

A combination of factors like the revolution in information and communication technology, the emergence of social media like facebook and twitter, the economic turmoil forcing media organisations to cut their budgets, the pressure on print and broadcast media to refocus their business models in order to attract advertising have made media organisations to be very selective in their recruitment of staff. So what are these skills that you need to acquire in order to increase your chances of securing employment, and make more impact in the practice of journalism?

The first is language acquisition. Whether in the broadcast or the print media, language is the key instrument. Apart from your own native language, combining two international languages at the same standard will make you a hot cake by media employers. Try and combine at least two international languages, either English and Arabic, Arabic and French, French and English, and with the way things are moving, a knowledge of Mandarin because of the economic rise of  China, Spanish because of the rise of some Latin American countries could be an advantage. For those in Africa an understanding of these international languages with Hausa or Swahili, both of which have international broadcasting organisations transmitting in them could be an added advantage. You can see clearly some examples in today’s newsrooms. The likes of Ghida Fakhry of Aljazeera, Ben Wedeman and Arwa Damon of CNN, BBC’s Zeinab Badawi are examples of the advantage speaking multiple international languages can have on the career of a journalist. In fact some of the ones I have mentioned have a modest understanding of the second language.  

The pressure to report stories from areas that provide the raw material of news has made media organizations to rethink the informal policy of having only people with native accent of English, French or Arabic as reporters. The likes of Muhammad Adow of Aljazeera English, and Mannir Dan-Ali, formerly reporting for both BBC Hausa and BBC Focus on Africa are clear examples. Their reports are clear, incisive and analytical. Having both writing and broadcasting ability in these languages can make your CV glitter before employers. It is also an opportunity to showcase your talent and inform the people about issues relevant to them.

The next skill in the 21^st century is multimediality. Media organizations are interested in journalists who can adapt to different news platforms.  They want a journalist who is good for radio, but will also fit in television. They want journalists who can write analysis on their websites, and at the same time interact with audiences on Facebook and twitter. During the BBC social media summit in 2011, a statement made by the managing editor of the Washington Post, that: why should he employ a journalists who doesn’t have a Facebook and twitter account, instantly became viral on twitter. Using twitter and Facebook, journalists bring audiences to their media organization which is hitherto unheard of. Journalists like Piers Morgan of CNN have more than 3 million followers on twitter. Of course you and I are not in that league, but the few hundreds or thousands of followers that you have could be an added advantage; in fact do not be shy of writing the total number of your followers on your CV, especially if the number is significant. That could be the difference between you and your competitor, especially if the media organization has someone in its management or interview panel like the managing editor of the Washington Post.

A common mistake that some students make is that they hardly do anything to build their experience in university. They think graduating with upper second class degree, (2:1), or first class are enough to secure them jobs. Yes it is good to have a good result, but never underestimate the value of an average student who perhaps graduated with second class lower (2:2), but has multiple skills and practical experience, those skills that you overlooked could bridge gap between you and him,  which might take you ages before you catch up with him. So be warned.

To be continued

3:11

29.08.1434

08.07.2013

(63): Why you should be a journalist? (I)

“Mass Comm ai kwas din mata ne” (Mass communications is a course for women), was a common adage we used to hear in our secondary school days. I can vividly remember the story one of my friends told me when I said I was going to study mass communications; he told me the story of a father who said he would rather his son or daughter become a street hawker than to study mass communications. Many parents assumed that for a child to be successful he has to study medicine or engineering or law or pharmacy or accounting or  economics or business administration,and so on and so forth depending on how lucrative the course could be.

Then the same people who castigate certain courses will be glued to their radio to listen to the announcement for the siting of the moon of Ramadan, in the morning the same father will either pick a copy of the Guardian, New Nigerian, Daily Trust, Punch, and in recent years Leadership, Blueprint, The Nation, and People’s Daily to find out what is happening in Nigeria and around the world; in fact if he has some shares he would monitor the pages in these newspapers giving up to date information about the value of shares in different financial institutions, at 9: 00 pm it is almost mandatory that every member of the household should leave the sitting area for the Oga at the top to watch NTA news.

When there is crises in the middle east like the Gulf War, popularly known in northern Nigeria as yakin tekun fasha, he quickly switches to radio Kaduna to listen to Duniya ina Labari and hear how Abubakar Jidda Usman provides analysis of the war with such oratory and analytical prowess. In fact while Uwargida (the chief or head wife) is preparing breakfast, his attention is divided between the food and the vibration of the voice of Usman Muhammad, Isa Abba Adamu or Saleh Halliru of the BBC Hausa service, or Hadiza Isa Wada, Kabiru Fagge and Halima Djimrou of VOA, or Deutche Welle’s Ado Gwadabe and Umaru Aliyu, most of them retired but no tired broadcasters.

In fact the same castigator discouraging his children from studying mass communication and other journalism courses forgets that the first president of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, the likes of Alhaji Abdullateef Jakande, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, Alhaji Abubakar Imam, Ahaji Abubakar Rimi, Chief Segun Osoba and many more were at one point or the other working as journalists.

After joining the university one discovers an amazing trend, the interest by students from English language, sociology, political science, Islamic studies, library science, history, rushing to take courses in mass communications, and not all of these people are women. Then one begins to think that, there must be something in this course that is attracting people, and the answer is not far from us, it is simply marketability. Almost every state in Nigeria has a radio and television station, and perhaps a newspaper. At the federal level you have NTA and FRCN. Lagos is the hub of the newspaper industry with various newspapers and magazines. But this is just part of the story; almost every government parastatal has a public relations unit, the banks and other financial institutions have corporate communication departments, local governments have information officers, even in the military era, the governors, the president, the ministers have press secretaries, and having the word mass communication on your certificate helps in turning your qualification into a meal ticket in a market congested with university graduates searching for jobs. In fact my teacher Malam Jibrin Ali Giginyu, formerly of the Triumph newspapers used to say, journalism is too large to be filled by mass communication graduates only.

But what is the purpose of this long tale. It is simple, irrespective of what you think of journalism, it is a profession that provides job opportunities, and it is when the best, the honest and the brightest refuse to study or practices it, that others join to spoil the show. Beyond the traditional journalism practices of working in print and broadcast media, there are other opportunities locally and internationally. And in this series, I will mention some of those areas that might be of interest to students of mass communication and journalism, and those who would like to venture into this profession; what are the basic things you need to do to secure a job, what are the opportunities out there, but only few people can grab, and how can you improve your skills so as to make it difficult for employers to overlook your CV? Join me for an update.

3.04 pm

22.08.1434

01.07.2013

(62): Mobile phone as a urine laboratory

Twelve years ago when searching for a topic to write my undergraduate project at the Bayero University, Kano, I came across  a book entitled Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web written by  Tim Berners-Lee, who led the invention of the World Wide Web (www). Tim Berners-Lee, in my opinion, is the unsung hero of the internet age.  

He led the process that changed the way we conduct business. The invention of the World Wide Web has transformed how our family live, how our educational system operates; in fact it even changed the way people think, and try to find solution to their problems including spiritual issues.

Let me tell you a story that happened around 2004. We were having a chat with a friend who was studying at the University of Liverpool. He went to the mosque to perform one of the obligatory prayers, and he found some youths relatively confused, and searching their laptops. On coming together, he realized that they have made a mistake in their prayer,   and would therefore need to make Sujud al-Sahwi (prostration of forgetfulness); instead of asking a scholar, they quickly refer to Google to find out about the sujud and how to perform it. Our friend intervened and explained everything to the youth.

This is how the internet has transformed our lives, and significant part of that revolution should go to Tim Berners-Lee for coming up with the World Wide Web. Before coming to the subject of this discourse, there is a thought process and thirst for innovation which made Tim to come up with the World Wide Web. As he outlined in the book Weaving the Web, every day we wake up, go to the bathroom, take a shower, get dressed and then enter our car or ride a bike to go to work or other businesses. When we feel hungry we simply get out of our desk and either go to a restaurant, or move straight to the kitchen, and when it is time to close from work we do so automatically. This automatic process in our thought which makes us accomplish so much in a day without somebody having to tell you to go to the toilet, or drive your car is the sort of instinctive process that Tim Berners-Lee wanted to transfer to the computer.

Perhaps if Tim Berners-Lee was to explain this process prior to the emergence of the World Wide Web, people will think he is crazy. But today this crazy thinking is a reality we are living with. Since the emergence of the internet so many innovative thinkers in the field of technology have emerged. Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg etc have founded Google, Apple and Facebook. Probably you will be reading this piece from one of these devices and platforms.  

While Watching Aljazeera on Saturday 16th May 2013, some Indians wanted to join the league of 21^st century innovators. They are working to create a smartphone application that can be used as a laboratory for urine test.

Speaking at the TED conference, (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design: it is a gathering of innovators and thinkers in the United States, who spread ideas on how they changed their society), Myshkin Ingawale from India suggested his motivation for working to create this mobile phone application. Like Tim Berners-Lee before him, Ingawale believes that people do pee, and they also have cell phones, so why not bring the two together to address the challenges of lab testing especially in rural areas. Writing about this innovation, Mchael V Copeland of the Wired Magazine stated that “what Ingawale has created is a seemingly simple app that analyzes chemical strips by first taking photos with your phone at predetermined times and comparing the results that appear on the pee-soaked strip to a color-coded map”. 

Copeland added that “With the color comparisons as a guide, the app analyzes the results, and comes back in seconds with a breakdown of the levels of glucose, bilirubin, proteins, specific gravity, ketones, leukocytes, nitrites, urobilinogen and hematuria present in the urine. The parameters the app measures are especially helpful for those people managing diabetes, and kidney, bladder and liver problems, or ferreting out the presence of a urinary tract infection”.

As the Aljazeera correspondent showed during the report, a team of doctors and IT experts have gathered in a room working to make sure this app becomes a reality. As the report finished, I quickly remember that in Nigeria people love watching Indian movies, in fact we now have Kannywood. Here is another movie in technology and medical education. Nigerian doctors and IT specialists, over to you.

2:52

08.08.1434

17.06.2013

(61): Faith, civilisation and diversity (III)

Dushanbe at Night

I took the menu to see if I could recognise some of the food, I selected what I could recognise, but I had to use the sign language to point at my preferred choice. Sometimes you do not understand the value of a skill until its need arises. I had to use my fingers as well to find out about the price. This made me to appreciate the sign language that you normally see on television during news or whether forecast. As I was struggling to complete my order, a voice behind me said, brother Jameeeeeel…. I turned around; it was Professor Mudjia Rahardjo, the Rector of Republic of Indonesia Islamic University, who was attending the same event as I was.

I met Professor Rahardjo at the airport on our way to the hotel. He was a very humble and soft-hearted person. We quickly became friends. With a huge sigh of relief, I greeted him. “Don’t worry, we have an interpreter with us, he can help you order the food that you want”, Professor Rahardjo said. I went back to the counter again, and the interpreter helped me to place the order and settle the bills.

In the evening as people prepare to close from work, I returned to the hotel, a friend in our entourage suggested that we visit the Somoni Park, which is opposite the hotel. Few minutes later, we were there. Somoni Park is a very beautiful place for families and friends. It is decorated by flowers. It has enough seats for people to spend their time. But what I found most beautiful is how the people of Dushanbe utilise the parks by spending their evenings there. The youth will bring their friends to stroll around. And they welcome strangers with a smile.

A common practice you see in the Somoni Park is that once the young people see a stranger, they come and ask for photo, young children walk towards you and smiling with joy. One interesting point is that a country does not need to be stupendously rich before it can make life comfortable for its people. This is a great lesson for other developing countries. The city of Dushanbe is surrounded by public parks. The people of Tajikistan are not rich, yet they are happy. Their country is beautiful, and the people are hospitable.

There are some interesting facts about the country some of which were confirmed to us during a visit to Professor Jamshidov, a leading professor of linguistics in the country. It has a population of around eight million people, two million less than the population of Kano. Yet, there are 32 universities. Almost two million people are working in Russia, sending remittances worth US $ 2 billion a month to the country.

Somoni Park in Dushanbe

They have 97% literacy rate. Any father who refuses to take his child to school will go straight to prison. And you could clearly see the high literacy rate in the country when you interact with the elderly people. I saw that when purchasing some traditional Tajik attire, before we left the country. The elderly woman I was purchasing from writes well and makes calculations without any difficulty.This brings me to the next point, they have beautiful traditional dress. For those who like a unique dress during the Eid festivals, they should explore from Tajikistan.

One more thing, among the public universities the Tajik people are proud of is Avicenna Tajik Medical University, named after the famous Muslim scientist and a leading pioneer of medical education. The university is considered one of the best even in the former Soviet Union. According to an encyclopedia published by the University, “the medicine of Tajiks has an original history, which roots come from a deep antiquity. The treasury of the world medical science was enriched by the works of the greatest scientist-doctors of antiquity and first of all by Avicenna (in 10-11 centuries), from which many generations of doctors and scientists of the world have got medical knowledge and skills” (p. 104).

The journey to Tajikistan was fulfilling, but for every beginning there is an end, and it has to end. On Friday morning at 2am on 24th May, 2013, I checked out from my hotel and headed straight to the airport. The weather was cool, the wind gently breezing. As the morning approaches and the passengers on board Turkish airline were seated. It started raining heavily. After two hours of waiting inside the aircraft, it started moving gently and slowly. As the flight took off and headed towards Istanbul, looking through the window as we penetrate through the clouds, my heart was saying good bye Tajikistan.

12:28

01.08.1434

10.06.2013

(60): Faith, civilisation and diversity (II)

It was Friday morning. The 17^th of May, the jet lag was over. The sun was bright. People were elegantly dressed, the roads relatively busy, but nothing near the congested roads of bigger cities like London, New York, Jeddah or Lagos. Some people were walking by the side of the road, a common culture in this beautiful land. When is the Friday prayer? I asked a fellow. It normally starts around 1 pm. How far is the mosque? I enquired. It is nearby, you can either walk or take a taxi, a uniformed officer told me. A gentleman by the side looked at me and said, I am actually going to the mosque, and so I joined him in a taxi. About ten minutes later, the taxi driver stopped, and we paid him five Somoni (the name of their currency) each.   

People walking towards Abu Hanifa mosque

In Dushanbe there are two types of taxis, the ones that are officially registered, and those run by individuals. Of course for a stranger, it is always advisable to use a registered taxi, though they may be more expensive, but at least they are relatively safer. This is an advice that can help you, wherever you travelled around the world. I once had terrible experience using a non-registered taxi in a foreign country, a subject for another day.

Almost everyone in that area was walking towards the mosque, gently and respectfully. Although people tend to be liberally dressed, they are modest in their public attitude compared to what you see in European and other Western capitals. Those who drive left their cars in a relatively long distance, avoiding unnecessary congestion. As I turned right, I was greeted by this marvelous architecture, squared in shape. The inner part of the mosque was built within the shape of   the square, while the central part of the square was left as an open space. As we entered the main prayer hall, the Imam was delivering the pre-Khutbah (pre-sermon).

The Imam is a relatively old man, approximately in his late sixties or early seventies. He was wearing a medium sized turban, and an Eypto-Persian style long gown. His trimmed beard was grey, and was seated comfortably on the pulpit.  Although I don’t understand the Tajik language, but from the ahadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace), I could figure out he was speaking about generosity and humility. He was particularly emphasizing the reward for those who are rich but humble, as well as the poor people who are generous. Even if you don’t fully understand the Tajik language, there is something beautiful about this Imam. He has a compelling humility. One of our tour guides told me that the style of Khutbah (sermon) employed by the Imams, is one of the factors attracting people to the mosque. Because they focus on piety, generosity, brotherhood and those social values that hold the society together. A theme that people identify with in post-Soviet Tajikistan.

After finishing the pre-Khutbah and the call to prayer was made, the Imam ascended on the pulpit again, standing and facing the congregation, he started delivering the main sermon. Here was another lesson I learnt. The sermon was the shortest I have experienced. It was not more than ten minutes. So those coming from work, or having other responsibilities to attend, can benefit from the sermon, and go back to their businesses on time.

Secondly the, the voice of the Imam was one of most melodious I ever heard. Another quality that is common among the reciters of the Qur’an in Tajikistan. Their voice has a thinly-vibrant eloquence that keeps your nerves intact, and your mind fully focused when they chant the verses of the Qur’an.

The entrance of Abu Hanifa University

 As the Friday prayer finished, I could see strangers like myself busy bringing out their cameras, taking pictures, and the joy on their faces summarizes how fulfilling it is to visit this country. As we came out of the mosque, I noticed there was a bookshop by the side. I quickly entered. Looking around I could see prominent texts in the Islamic sciences, like Tafsirul Qurtubi, Tafsir ibn Kathir, Fathul Bari (the commentary of Sahih Al Bukhari) etc. one of the youths quickly came towards me, with a smile on his face. After greeting each other, I asked him, “please what is the name of this mosque?”, “this is Abu Hanifa mosque, it used to be called Imam At-Tirmidhy mosque, but it was changed to Abu Hanifa mosque about three years ago”, the young man told me in his posh Arabic. “I understand that you have a unique way of memorizing the Qur’an?” I asked again. “yes we do, there is actually a school called Mehrubat outside Dushanbe, they are specialists in that, just quote any verse, and the reciter who memorised the Qur’an will immediately tell you the chapter and the number of the verse”, he responded. Looking outside the bookshop, the gentleman said “apart from the mosque and the bookshop, we also have Abu Hanifa University”. So it was a triangle of a mosque, bookshop and a university. As I crossed the road around 2:30 pm, I heard the enzymes in my stomach beginning to hold a noisy conference. I quickly intervened by entering the next restaurant, where none of the staff on duty speaks English or Arabic, so how can I place an order?

To be continued

12:18

24.07.1434

03.06.2013