I hold a vision of peace for Somalia Amanda Lindhout

[sheherazade]

^she was there for a reason and knew the risks. I don't have a problem with hre or what she did.

 

I can't bare the look on the face of the woman handing her the necklace. Says it all.

[Ashkiro]

Again, I think you guys have the wrong end of the stick, I don’t think recongizing her ordeal by the Somali community negates the suffering of other somalis, in fact it is the very line of work that people such as Amanda do that brings the suffering of Somalis and countries in war on the world stage, which gives a voice to the voiceless. Not dwelling on anything beyond that because I don’t know the intentions of people and can only judge what I see in the open. I think the Somali community did the right thing in honorning her, you may disagree, and that is fine. We shall agree to disagree.

[Resistance]

is a bit of community PR, whats wrong with that.

[Sherban Shabeel]

Some IGNANT replies up in this thread. I'm not gonna say everything that comes to my mind now, because I might come across as unable to control my anger. So let me just reason you:

 

Before you go throwing journalists in the self-interested, cynical bucket, please remember most of these men and women do their job out of love and empathy for fellow human beings. If it was money we were interested in, we would have become investment bankers or lawyers. Journalists don't make fortunes, and that's one of the first things you learn in journalism school. Without dedication, you can't do this job.

 

Amanda could have lived a comfortable life reporting in Canada or Western Europe, or travel writing across Asia. She could have lived her entire life not caring about Somali people, kind of like everyone else.

 

Instead she chose to go to Somalia, to speak to Somalis and try to understand them and to show the world that they still exist. No one forced her to go there, she went there out of love and that means a great deal. She almost sacrificed her life for Somalis.

 

What the hell have you done for the Somali people?

[sheherazade]

^LOL a journalist are you? Why is she a hero? What did she do?

 

LOL @ LOVE. For real.

[NGONGE]

Sherban, I thought you were supposed to be a security guard! Are you a journalist now? CIA broadsheet?

[Malika]

^ Sherban got angry and told the truth - He is spying on us,pretending to be a security guard,all this time he was undercover journalist.. :eek:

 

Through her ordeal whilst doing her work,she has been able to raise the awareness of the chaos in Somalia and the plight of Somalis..We can grant her that dee.Calling her a hero is exagurated honestly.

[General Duke]

She might be a hero to other journalist, who have to work in difficult situations.

 

She is not a hero to you, but some might view her ordeal and the way she came out not bitter as heroic.

[Cara.]

Weird day when I agree more with General Duke than I do with Sheh and Juxa :eek:

 

She's a hero to me, if we define a hero as someone who would rather report on a warzone as opposed to giving a detailed expose' on Britney Spears drug abuse, or the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new branch of the city library system.

 

And what's the big deal about the necklace? We give dahab to women to celebrate their joys and milestones, like weddings and children and whatnot. It's a quintessentially Somali women gift! They should have given her a dirac and garbasaar set too, instead of that cringe-inducing "portrait"

[Juxa]

cara hon, i accept the woman suffered i just think labelling her a hero is bit too much.

 

this woman suffered whilst doing a job she liked. she took a risk, which many journalist take during the course of their employment. the gamble did not pay off, she got kidnapped and i am glad she is back in her home now.

 

ps: uma diidani inla siiyo dahab iyo dirac labadaba, so those getting hot and bothered because they paid hard earned canadian dollars, tartiibkin

[NGONGE]

^^ Like a soldier is known as a hero for doing a job he loves you mean?

[Juxa]

i have already being accused for having links with the pirates. maybe i should leave whilst i can. thanks old man for being wise beyond ehem your age

[Sherban Shabeel]

Shahrazad & others:

 

I'm a journalism student (at Concordia University if you must know), and I've said this before so no surprise there. The security guard job was just to get me some money to leave for Alg & Rom last summer. You can't possibly think I'd make a career out of it lol

 

But back to journalism:

 

Let me let you in on how this profession works. A "scoop" (lame word you use to give out an impression you know what you're talking about) means getting a story out before anyone else. I fail to see how this can apply to the stuff Amanda was reporting on, the suffering of the Somali people. I don't see how that is exclusive in any way, since it has been reported a million times before.

 

But let's say there was going to be some exclusive stories to send back from Somalia (and there always are if you look hard enough). An exclusive from Somalia is worth no more than an exclusive from, say, Dubai (see the murder of the Hamas man recently). An exclusive is a superlative in itself, it doesn't come in degrees, so you don't get extra glory for reporting from Somalia - as a matter of fact most people will think you're a nutcase! You don't get extra money either - in fact, you can probably make more with travel writing.

 

Also, I think you should know there is absolutely NO news organization in the world who sends its journalists to Somalia - even Reuters uses local correspondents. One exception would be Al Jazeera: they have Maxamed Cadow, but even he is there of his own free will, and you can kind of consider him a local correspondent. So your claims that she was "just doing her job" are unfounded, as there is absolutely no employer in this world that would expect a reporter to go to Somalia. Do I make myself clear?

 

So, just in case I wasn't clear enough in my first post: there is not a SINGLE reason a sane journalist would go to Somalia, if not out of LOVE for the Somali people. This woman felt empathy for a people she has no blood or kinship ties to, and was moved enough that she decided to go to their country to try and help in any way she could. She put her life at risk for the Somali people and that's what makes her a hero.

 

DAMN RIGHT she is a hero and DAMN RIGHT foreign correspondents are heroes, for putting their lives at risk every day for people they barely know or don't know at all! If it wasn't for them, you would have NEVER known the horrors of Gaza last year. How little you would know of the world if it wasn't for them!

 

Your posts are not only an insult to Amanda Lindhout, but to an entire proffession, and to every cadaan person in this world who has ever loved Somalia, myself included.

[NGONGE]

^^ I don't believe a word you say but I agree with you.

[Sherban Shabeel]

What don't you believe lol