For the image on her new Twitter account, Congolese journalist Nanythe Talani features part of a quote by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “If you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
With Michelle Obama and her daughters recently in Africa to urge more support for girls’ education, it’s a good moment to consider the personal journeys of two African women investigative journalists, Nanythe (Na-NEETH) Talani, and her Liberian colleague, Wade (Wa-DEH) Williams. Their struggles and the challenges that lie ahead personify what the first lady’s trip is about. Obama’s first stop was Liberia.
Both Talani and Williams have just spent a transformative year at the University of Maryland on the U.S. State Department’s Humphrey Fellowships mid-career program, learning how they might improve journalism in their countries, discovering tools and techniques they are now eager to put into practice.