This Reporter Loves Her iPhone!

So I’m driving from Sacramento to San Francisco for my night-side reporting shift when I get stuck behind an accident. No worries, I’ll call into the 3pm assignment meeting.

I get my assignment: People are calling into quit-smoking help lines in record numbers… find a local angle.

Great story… except its 3pm on a Friday and I’m still an hour away from the city. How am I going to line up interviews with doctors and smoking clinics before everyone leaves for the weekend?

Enter the iPhone… Without disconnecting from the conference call, I google quit smoking SF. Up pops a list of hypnotists, hospital programs, and (wait for it…) quit smoking hotlines.

The beauty of the iPhone is you don’t actually have to dial the numbers from websites. Without taking my eyes off the road for more than 2 seconds (I’m dead stopped in traffic anyway) I click on a website, click on the contact number, am instantly connected.

After each call, the iPhone sends me back to the station conference call so I can continue to listen in between calls.

By the time I reached the station at 4pm I had all of my interviews set up. I met my photographer, hit the road and was back at the station by 6 ready to write.

Oh, and did I mention, I also found all the stats for the story by using iPhone news apps?

Once again, iPhone saves the day (or at least the story :)

Now if only I could get AT&T to quit dropping my calls…

Where is Julie Watts??

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged… and I have received a lot of questions about my whereabouts since I left KCRA in December.

I am currently working at KPIX CBS 5 in San Francisco as both a reporter and meteorologist. I'm still living in the Sacramento area and commuting between Sac, the city, and San Jose (my home town).

As for the Sierra Leone piece… Obviously it never aired on KCRA (a combo if union issues and lay-offs).

“From Sacramento to Sierra Leone” ended up a half-hour mini-doc airing on KVIE in December. A second version will air in May leading up to a Sierra Leone benefit concert this summer. Stay tuned!

For more on the journey, read the article below…

The Lay-Off Silver Lining

Click Article to Enlarge

Changing the way I blog...

So, I failed at blogging my Sierra Leone experience. I have been trying to sit here and continue to write about our trip (post the first few days you read about below)… but we are so far removed now that I just don’t feel I can do the stories justice. The emotions aren’t as raw and the memories aren’t as fresh.

However, this is the beauty of being a TV journalist... I have the video. So I have decided from here on out, I will blog about my editing process… about the emotions and memories that come back as I see the video… and about the challenges of trying to put together a story with less than perfect video (I realize now that my faith in my shooting and camera was stronger than the reality of my skills and equipment :).

Truthfully, shooting anything in Sierra Leone is difficult considering the lighting and white balance issues. Imagine the contrast between jet-black skin and white clothing… or trying to shoot in a home with no electricity (there is NO electricity anywhere so you choose between the bright equator sun or relative darkness)… it was no easy task. Add to that, the fact that my viewfinder didn’t work so I had to rely on the flip out LCD that was impossible to see in the sun… AND that I was shooting while interviewing.

As a reporter you are trained to find the story and ask the right questions… to interact with your interview subjects… to get them to trust you and open up. That is not as easy with a camera in your hand. As a photographer you are trained to get the best shots and lots of them…your looking for different angles, cut-aways, and plenty of b-roll. As I found, being the reporter AND photographer is not as simple as it seems... both elements suffer a bit.

So… where am I now?
I have written the first two pieces and edited one and a half. In these stories I focus on two of the sponsored children and try to present the reality of Sierra Leone through their eyes.

As I mentioned above, in editing these pieces I have been disappointed in my video and had to turn to Michael for some of his… but as luck (or God) would have it… He lost the video from the first two days of our trip (i.e. the sponsored villages). Gotta love God’s Humor :)
So here I sit… procrastinating… I know I need to break out the computer and get to work on the second piece (keep in mind I still have 7 hours of video to log before I can even write parts 3-5 on the Diamond industry)… Ah… procrastination…

SL 7: Bagbo 2

NOTE: From this point on, my blogs will be written Post-Sierra Leone… Since there is limited electricity in SL, I had to choose between charging our camera equipment or my computer… guess which one I picked :)

So about a half hour drive down the road (and I use the term road loosely) we stopped outside of a school and a clinic. Apparently it was just supposed to be a quick stop so the WV staff could show off the clinic they built… but as we got out of the car we were mobbed by a group of screaming children. “Padee… Padee mua!”… They yelled over and over again. (We were later told that means friend and Michael & Sam would holler it out any time he saw a child… which didn’t get old at all ;)

In any event, we were captivated by the children who were elated to simply touch us. All they wanted to do was hold our hands and pose for photos… and of course every time the flash went off they CHEEEEERED!

We finally got back on the road and by the time we got to our next village there was a large group waiting for us.

We met our sponsored child Abduli and his family… he loved the toys we gave him (a fake toy snake was a hit!)... but it was our interview with the other sponsored child, Lahi, and his family that had the greatest impact on us.

We eventually learned that Lahi’s father was a chief… and his story was heartbreaking. Lahi’s mother was probably in her early 20’s while his father (the chief) was at least in his 60’s. The chief eventually told us the heartbreaking story of how he ended up with such a young wife.

He was married before the war with 6 children… when the rebels attacked Bagbo, the family escaped to another village about 40 miles away. It was there the rebels killed his 6 children and burned his wife alive.

He narrowly escaped to another village… And then THAT village was attacked. He was able to escape again, this time saving Lahi’s mother & her brothers. Her family was so grateful that they offered their eldest daughter as his wife.

The two now live in Bagbo and have 5 children of their own… but the Chief is old and is concerned that none of his children are old enough to take care of the family if he dies.

He gave me a tour of their home and showed off their crop of peanuts. He also proudly pointed out the mosquito net over the kids bed… provided by World Vision.

Finally they invited us back to their porch where they had a feast for us. Rice with some kind of Chicken Stew… amazing! And to drink… they hacked off the top of a coconut and we had fresh coconut milk. It was messy but wonderful!
Then it was off the next ADP, Lugbu…

SL 6: Bagbo 1

We eventually made it to our first stop in Bagbo.  This is where we planned to interview two of our sponsored children... but before we could do any shooting there were the formalities.  We had to meet with the chief and the village elders to explain our objectives first... and what an experience that was.  We all gathered in the open-air meeting structure in the center of town.  Wood floors & roof with no walls. There were chairs set up for us in front and maybe 40 people squeezed on to benches across from us.  Before we began someone yelled out something in a bush language an everyone began chanting a Muslim prayer... I just assumed it was a muslim community and bowed my head respectfully waiting for them to finish when to my surprise someone yelled out “Lord’s Prayer” and they all began the Our Father in unison.  I had heard from many people before our trip hat this was a common occurrence before meetings but I had forgotten... and assumed it was more likely in the big cities, not the Bush.  Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Then a man stood up and began introducing the “important” people... the main chief and the chiefs of each chiefdom in the area... and a bunch of others that I couldn’t really understand... and then it was our turn.

Claudius introduced us in Creole and the WV rep for that village translated into the native tung.  It’s funny how quickly you catch onto Creole when you have to... he introduced me and when he explained Sam was my husband everyone cheered.  Then he described Michael as our “Papa” and again we got cheers.  It was very welcoming and wonderful.

Next it was off to meet the children at “the school”.  We walked up a path and found all the children standing outside of what seemed to be a small dilapidated school house and a second structure that looked like the frame of a building made of large sticks and branches.  They sang us a song and we took photos.  But to my surprise, when  I asked to actually see them “in school” they all picked up their benches and headed back down the path to the town center.

WV explained that the school building we were looking at couldn't be used during the rainy season (6 months out of the year which ends in November) so the children met in the town center where we had just been.  They pointed to brand new out-house bathrooms behind the building and explained that the sanitation project had already been funded an they were able to build these bathrooms.... but they were still waiting to receive the funding for the new school building (the frame I mentioned next to the old school house.  The way World Vision works, people can choose to fund certain projects.  Apparently people had chosen to fund the school-house sanitation before the school-house itself.  

So we traveled back down the path to the village center and the kids were already set up with their tables and benches reciting he alphabet.  When they began to sing their version of the ABC’s we all noticed a familiar tune... they sing the ABC’s to the tune of the New Year’s song Auld Lang Syne.

So then I met with the sponsored children.  We visited their houses. (Remember there is no power or running water in most of Sierra Leone, but especially in the bush)  The homes: Two rooms, dirt floors, one bed for the whole family... but they were very proud... and they quickly pointed out their mosquito net provided by World Vision.  The children of course were amazing and the parents were so grateful... and then we handed out toys.  Oh my gosh the looks on their faces... It was like I had changed their lives with a few small trinkets.  I can't tell you how that puts life into perspective.

Eventually it was back into the car to visit our next village and 2 more sponsored children... including Abduli, the boy Sam and I sponsor.  

SL 5: The villages in Bo

We woke up Thursday morning before sunrise and were back to off-roading out into the bush.  It is amazing how different most of Sierra Leone is from the couple of main cities.        As we drove along these dirt roads you pass a village about every mile or so... mainly houses with  mud bases with thatched roofs and the occasional concrete building likely built by an NGO.  The roads are very narrow and it quickly became clear that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way.  These narrow muddy/rocky roads are peppered with natives walking between villages or even making the 10, 20, 30 mile treck into the next main town.  They are almost al carrying things on their heads... lots of clothes to wash in the rivers, sometimes food, we even saw a guy with a generator on his head.  

So anyway, as we are barreling down this crazy road the driver is honking constantly...as he comes around corners, as he drive up a hill, around any blind spots and whenever he sees people.  That is their cue to jump into the 6-foot bushes that line the sides of the road... and when I say jump in I mean it.  They literally disappear into the bushes because the cars are swerving all over the narrow roads trying to avoid the biggest pot holes.  And it’s not just the people... it’s little kids, the dogs and even the goats... it like it’s instinctual... when they hear a horn they step into the bushes.  

So on our way deep into the bush to visit our World Vision sponsored children we must have passed 30 or 40 other villages...  And as we drive through each village children run out of the houses waving and screaming “Padee” meaning friend, or “white man” or they just scream with the biggest smiles you have ever seen.  And we wave like we’re in a parade and snap photos... and they cheer...  It's an experience that can not properly be put into words... the joy on their faces simply seeing us drive by.  

In one village along the way a group of people ran out and stopped our cars... we couldn’t really tell what was going on at first but then Caludius explained.  A child from the village was sick and had been convulsing.  The mother was getting ready to walk the 10 miles to the nearest clinic when they saw us driving through.  Needless to say World Vision picked them up an gave them a ride... but Claudius said it was unlikely the child would survive.

You see, in the bush the clinic’s are so far away that they usually try to cure illnesses with old herbal remedies and things of that nature.  It’s not until conditions get dire that they rush to the clinics (the nearest ones built by World Vision) but by that time rushing means a day’s walk and the child usually dies along the way.  This is one of the main reasons many children (28%) don’t make it past the age of 5 ... and they have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.