Expect diarrhea
OK, so I needed an eye-catching headline to encourage you to check out this important announcement:
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times is offering two people
a chance-of-a-lifetime trip to Africa. He'll choose a university student (graduate and undergraduates are eligible to apply) and a middle or high teacher to join him.
Don't expect comfort as much as diarrhea, he says. And don't think you're going to practice tourism, he adds. You'll be practicing journalism via blogs or vlogs set up on nytimes.com and myspace.com. Read
the blog of last year's winner, Casey Parks.
Then check out
the contest's rules -- and note that the deadline to enter is
April 6, 2007.
Why the heck is Kristof doing this? Here are a couple of passages from
his detailed explanation:
"I originally decided to hold this contest because I thought that plenty of young people tune out a fuddy-duddy like myself but might be more engaged by a fellow-student encountering African poverty for the first time.
"Frankly, I’m hoping that you’ll be changed when you see a boy dying of malaria because his parents couldn’t afford a $5 mosquito net, or when you talk to a smart young girl who is at the top of her class but is forced to drop out of school because she can’t afford a school uniform. I’m not saying you’ll turn into an aid worker – but I’m hoping you’ll carry the memories through your life and let them affect your priorities.
"What’s more, I’m gambling that your thoughts and reactions on this trip will make powerful reading to others. I’m a jaded traveler at this point, but you will bring something that I’ll never bring again to my reporting trips: fresh eyes."
Get cracking with that application -- and good luck!