Sthembiso Sithole
@SITHOLEEXPRESS
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| SABC Digital News Journalist, Hasina Gori |
It is often said that
dreams do come true. When something is meant for you no one can take it away
from you. Like most journalists, Hasina Gori once had a dream to be in the
world of news and today that is a reality.
As she grew up in the city of Pietermaritzburg before moving
to the heart of Zululand, Empangeni at the age of 10, this 25 -year -old knew
that one day she would be something big in life. Once she starts talking about
the things she has done and the love for news, one can’t stop her from talking.
She began her story by defining her childhood and what it
meant to her.As I listened, she seemed relaxed and ready to answer all the
questions that I spend hours preparing.
“Growing up around adults meant I grew up with a greater world view and
maturity than people my age, But I was still a curious kid who loved following
stories and events.”
Most kids her age at that time never concerned themselves
with news or reading newspapers but for MiZz_haSiNa as she is known on twitter
was always ready for a challenge. “My interest in journalism, I think it has
been with me from a young age. Watching
the way people would pause their lives to watch the evening news daily or hush
their family to listen to the news bulletin, I think I realised that it was
something I want to do.”
It is often said in journalism that, you have to hustle your
way up to get your name and work know. Her story reminds me of how I hustled my
way up in the media industry. She said; "Journalism is a career that
doesn’t pay in cents and notes but pay in bylines and a feeling of purpose.”
Usually when I do interviews with sources, they often look
serious and want to leave a good impression for me to write good stuff about
them. Well, for“Crazy Hasina” as her colleague Sipho Kekana described her, she
was spinning the chair and playing with her legs as I conduct the interview.
I was surprised when she told me her education background.
“I started studying Medical Science at University of Zululand, but changed
after a semester to Psychology and Communication Science at UNISA in 2009.
After completing my undergrad I did my honours in Journalism at Wits University
in 2011.” With two qualifications on her shoulders, it was time for her to look
for a job and that was one of the daunting tasks she had to face.
After her hard work and building her name on social
networks, she finally got a job at the SABC Digital News as a news writer and
News Break reader. She took a deep breath as I asked her about some of her
career highlights working in digital media. “My career highlight was when I was
assigned to cover the court case of blade runner Oscar Pistorius, the social
media ‘junkie’ said.
She was in the midst of both local and international media
tweeting from the Pretoria Magistrate's Court.
As the saying goes; all good things come to an end. I could
see from her eyes and gesture that this future ‘Al Jazeera war correspondent in
Africa’ wished she that she could have had more time to reveal more of her
future aspirations. Unfortunate I had another appointment. Oh, yes she is a
nice person with passion for what she does.
