Narratives from the frontlines: Youth journalist navigates through COVID-Chronicles

Whether a journalist reports in quarantine, from behind a desk or from the streets covering life at large, the risks of safety for these reporters demand a vigorously thoughtful approach. In this story we meet 21 year old Justicia Shipena, who was born and raised in Windhoek, the City of lights in Namibia. Justicia is an aspiring youth journalist for My Zone, the youth brand of Namibia Media Holdings (NMH). Her journey in the media industry ignited from her unknown passion for journalism which slowly manifested during her high school years, where she undertook the role of being the photographer and journalist of the school newspaper under her wing. With her love for poetry, she took a leap of faith into the media direction, which sprouted her passion for the art. As fate has it, she got an internship opportunity at My Zone, which proved to be a stepping stone as she later started working as a journalist for the newspaper. Justicia finds her job very rewarding despite the detriments that come with it.

In her aims to stay safe while doing the job that she loves, she emphasizes that she isn’t allowing any margins for error.

“I carry hand sanitizer and a mask as part of the regulations when I'm on the ground" she stated.

The young personality notes that there hasn’t been any drastic changes to her working schedule, although there have been slight changes which include the change in direction on the print youth publication, which has now been diverted to an online feature.

With this being her first pandemic coverage, she states that the experience is one that has been spine-chilling as levels of paranoia and uncertainty heighten.

"I have never experienced anything of this sort, and during the first few days it felt like a scene from a movie" she said.

In her opinion, Namibia is no different from any other country as the entire world is going through a crisis that heeds for a solution. Shipena continues to convey that it is a breath of fresh air to see how Namibians are radiating the spirit of Ubuntu by reaching out to those who have been clenched the hardest by the wrath of the pandemic. These commendable acts of kindness include food donations, monetary donations and initiatives that act as vessels through which people are receiving assistance from.

Journalists have been working concurrently with the government to produce coverage of the pandemic, combating misinformation, providing public health updates, and supplying entertainment to help people cope with the virus's impact. When she isn’t working from home, part of Shipena’s job requires her to go on the ground to gather information in connection with her articles. On her quest to do so, she has discovered that the locals are taking the necessary precautions to stay safe. She has however observed that the young generation portrays little fear of the status quo. In relation to the aforementioned statement, Shipena urges the youth to support national efforts in preventing the spread by establishing peer to peer education and promoting awareness. To get stories that resonate with her audience, she seeks advice from her counterparts and follows social media platforms to remain in the loop of the latest happenings as it is an important factor in the media world.

Justicia conveys that her hopes for the country are to encourage the world to sing to the the tune of unity during and after the pandemic. Shipena believes that the youth have it in them to stand up and be the future that they are destined to be.