Food Security Reporting Tour Programme ends, time to say good bye

The reporting tour programme ended Monday October 17, 2011 and it was time to say good bye. All 27 participants met for dinner at Carmine’s in Washington DC with the officials of the US Department of State Foreign Press Centre responsible for the programme.

The atmosphere was both delightful and emotional as we all ate, drank, talked, cracked jokes and laughed.  But deep down most of us have started missing each other. Because we have bonded so well, for people coming from diverse countries with obvious cultural differences.

The Food Security Reporting Tour 2011 brought together journalists from Germany, Brazil, Peru, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Bulgaria, Sweden, Chile, South Sudan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan , Ethiopia, Iraq, Mali, Mozambique, Malawi, India, Haiti and Ghana.

India and Nigeria both had two representatives on the team.

Our tour began in Des Moines, Iowa, where we joined in celebrating the World Food Prize award, symposium and other related events. But the highlight of our stay in Iowa was the visit to the Living History Farms – the farm museum at the heart of America’s and probably the world’s food basket.

The visit to Iowa State University was also revealing as the professors were candid in sharing knowledge with participants. The most exciting part though was the quality of questioning from the group. It was their strength.

The group was also acclaimed by the Directors of the programme as the best. And when Neil and Andrew said the group was the best that they have handled so far, Gustavo from Brazil retorted, “you probably say the same thing to all the others.” But Andrew responded firmly saying indeed this group is the best the team has ever encountered. I agree with him too. This is the best group of journalists I have ever met anywhere in my long career! They know their stuff very well and the camaraderie was excellent.

Anna Petersson from Sweden, Omer Ahmed from Ethiopia and I met on the first day of arrival, the chemistry was right and pronto! We went out and had dinner together! We had pizza.

The mutual respect among the group was phenomenal, it was as though we knew each other before. It was understandable then to see Neil and Andrew almost drawn to tears as they spoke on the last day. I almost broke down too when the group unanimously gave me the honour of addressing them, on account of Caleb’s initiative. He asked Gustavo from Brazil and I to speak because our respective former presidents were honoured as laureates at the World Food Prize.

The bonding was so strong, some members of the team would go out of their way to help others through Iowa and Washington DC. Some offered their cell phones to others to make both local and international calls! Caleb from Haiti on the last day bought a bottle of champagne and celebrated with the group at dinner!

Some paid for the taxi fares of others, bought lunch and so on! It was not surprising that some nearly shed tears at the hotel lobby as each one parted to the different airports to catch their flights back home.

I will miss everyone too. I will miss the very high level of maturity, quality of knowledge, professionalism and friendship that members of the group showed.

Finnigan from Tanzania was not a comedian, but he made everyone else to have a good laugh. I will remember Nisreen from Iraq. She was always smiling and giggling. I will remember Rahmata’s deep insights of Mali’s agriculture sector. Aditya’s friendly handshake, Neang’s shy smiles, Lan Ahn’s deep and firm eye gaze as well as probing questions.  From Vietnam, Lan’s knowledge of where to find good food in downtown DC was unquestionable. She led one team to have dinner at a Thai restaurant, where she coordinated everything and made sure everyone had their fill. I must say that, the meals we ate at that restaurant was the best meal that I have eaten since coming to America!

From Peru, Augusto’s sturdy figure and confident look will stay with me for a long time. I won’t forget Tina from Nigeria. She proved the no nonsense Nigerian woman’s stance, I saw it in her eyes each time we had discussions over issues.

Blessed, the second member from Nigeria, was so cool to interact with. I remember when he over-slept one morning and missed breakfast. After that, he was always the first to show up for breakfast.

And I won’t forget Neil, Head of team from the Foreign Press Centre and his colleagues Saul, Dick, Andrew and Dessi. Neil was playing ‘bad cop’ all the time. Saul kept the  balance between Neil and Andrew, who was being pushed by Neil to be bad cop, but he didn’t succeed! Good cops can’t ever be bad cops! Elegant Dessi played her part well, initially in the background. And when she came out into the open she was a good cop!

Dick was also in the background until the final days, but we felt his infectiousness. He pulled together so many of the ‘stunts’ to get the programme going.

I wish I can go on and on, as I am missing Ana from Guatemala, Zori from Bulgaria, Isa from Burkina Faso, Wongai from Zimbabwe, Shila from South Sudan, who couldn’t hide her excitement when she saw her country’s flag among other countries of the world at the lobby of the Des Moines Marriot.

There is so much more to say, but sitting here at the lobby of the Washington Plaza, feeling lonely and sad, if I continue to write I will cry and there isn’t any of the friends here to comfort me. I will head off to the Dulles Airport with some members to catch our different flights home.

Thanks to the US goverment and all who made this programme possible, the people of Des Moines and Washington DC – memories of this visit will linger on for a long time.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi