World Affairs

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderWorld Affairs
Anna: Hello, I'm Anna Jones and in today’s programme we’re going to be talking to aBBC journalist who reports from all over the world.
　　Mark Doyle works for the BBC World Service as a WorldAffairs Correspondent 1 – his job involves travelling todifferent countries to report on a variety of thingsincluding economic and political issues and wars. Whichcontinent has he reported from a lot?
　　Mark DoyleI’ve reported on a whole variety of issues mostlyconcerning the developing or the third world particularlyin Africa I’ve reported a lot of elections - I’vereported a lot of political activity by the politicalactors there both local and international, the UnitedNations and so on… And I’ve also reported onunfortunately a lot of conflicts and wars in variouscountries.
　　Anna: Well the continent that Mark has reported from alot is Africa – he has covered elections as well as warsin various countries in Africa. A word he uses which meansthe same as war is “conflict.”  He has alsoreported from developing countries in other parts of theworld – a developing or third world country is one whichis poorer and has less advanced industries than countriesin the developed world. He also speaks about the“political actors” - these are people who take part indiscussions regarding a country’s political future – theyinclude international organisations like the United Nationsand localgovernment and non-governmental organisations.
　　One of the West African countries where Mark has spent alot of time is Liberia. Liberia was in a state of civil warfor several years and most of its infrastructure 2 – itsbasic services such as power and water supplies andtransport – were destroyed during the war. However Markdescribes a place in the capital of Liberia, Monrovia,which is an example of how people are trying to rebuildtheir lives after the war. What is the place he describes?
　　Mark DoyleI know of a school in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia,where the teachers and pupils there have overcome the mostextraordinary difficulties to create a school in the middleof a swamp 3 basically and with a tiny bit of assistance fromthe outside – from the United Nations and privatecharities and so on – they’ve managed to create a schoolwhere you can now instead of hearing guns blazing 4 as wasthe case during the war years, you can hear childrenlaughing.
　　Anna: He describes a school which has been built near aswamp – a swamp is an area of very wet, soft land. He saysthat with a small amount of help or assistance from outsideorganisation, the teachers and pupils “have overcome themost extraordinary difficulties,” – they’ve managed todeal with some very difficult situations and succeed increating a school. He says instead of hearing guns“blazing” – instead of hearing guns being fired - youcan hear children laughing. But what kind of qualities doyou need to do a job like this? Mark describes one of thequalities needed to get things done in a difficultsituation. What does he describe?
　　Mark DoyleOne of the main things that you need is to be very, verypersistent. The logistics of covering many stories whetherphysical logistics like trying to get plane tickets to aplace that doesn’t have regular air travel where there’sperhaps no telephones that work, no electricity and no foodor water does require a lot of persistence 5 and not to takeno for an answer but to try andpersist in getting to the story – I think that’s probablythe main thing that you need to be good at.
　　Anna: Mark says you need to be “very, very persistent,”
　　which means you continue to do something in a verydetermined way. He talks about the logistics ofreporting a story – if you talk about the logistics ofsomething then you are talking about the carefulorganisation of a complicated activity so that it happensin a successful way. So for example he says that you mayneed to travel to a place that doesn’t have telephones orgood communications systems so it requires a lot ofdetermination to be able to get there and report the story.
　　So what stands out for Mark while doing the job of a worldaffairs correspondent? What will he remember?
　　Mark DoyleI have to admit that job that personally the things thatstand out for me and I’ll remember will be the greatprivilege I’ve had to visit some fantastic parts of theworld and actually be paid to do that. Whether I’ve beendriving through the jungles of Liberia or through thedeserts of Sudan or seeing volcanoes in Rwanda and meetingthe most fantastically interesting people and as I saybeing paid to do that has been a great privilege.
　　Anna: Mark says that he will always remember the greatprivilege – the special opportunities and advantages thatthe job has given him. His job has allowed him to visitsome extraordinary places in the world including thejungles - the tropical forests in Liberia. The deserts –the large sandy and very dry areas of land in Sudan and thevolcanoes in Rwanda– mountains with holes at the topthrough which gases and dust have been forced out. Wellthat’s all for now – join us next time.