“Shoulders to the Wheel!”

A Letter from an Uruguayan Photographer in Rome

By Manuela Aldabe
2004 Narco News Authentic Journalism Scholar

September 29, 2004

When we said goodbye, overjoyed to have been in Bolivia, the Narco News School of Authentic Journalism was bankrupt. This is understandable – a project as big as our gathering in Cochabamba is not cheap. But what we came away from those ten days with is priceless. Those of us who were fortunate enough to participate in the workshops have grown as people, as members of a group, and as journalists, learning how to do better and better reporting, so that we can explain to all the readers of Narco News what is happening in Latin America. What’s more, we have created strong networks that go beyond language and political ideology, networks which have not only brought us closer as people involved in the same labors, but brought us all the way to the heart of our América.

Manuela Aldabe

With the campesinos and social organizations, in the streets and popular festivals, we have made a commitment that’s hard to walk away from. A commitment not to forget them, or us, or any human beings. When the ten days of classes ended, I got the feeling that the work was just beginning, and so I’m rolling up the sleeves of my workshirt and putting my shoulder to the wheel. Hours and hours of radio material to edit and translate for you, readers. Hours and hours sitting at my desk, reading the articles my colleagues – my comapñeros – have written. A commitment to you, Narco News readers, who made it possible for us to get to Bolivia, and who will now make it possible for us to move forward.

We ask you, once again, to support our fundraising campaign, so that we can continue telling about our South America, so that we can continue to have website where we can publish our work, so that we can continue to believe that what we are doing is worth it. So that this little place in the world, this point of reference, stays here and keeps giving the best of itself, as we do each morning when we sit in front of our PCs, opening our mail and getting to work as part of a network of people who are, today, very far from each other in geographical terms, but very, very close in their hearts.

Support the campaign by donating, online, to The Fund for Authentic Journalism, via this link:

http://www.authenticjournalism.org

Or by sending a check today to:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 71051
Madison Heights, MI 48071

How valuable such a project as this is! Radio stations from different countries in permanent contact with each other, authentic investigative journalists that share information, videomakers helping each other to get their work out, older teachers teaching enthusiastic young people, and all of us, everyone, thinking of you, the readers, and of her: the beautiful, the beloved, Latin America.

Today more than ever, the project needs all of you. We have much to give, but our shirtsleeves will not stay rolled up if we’re unable to keep our shoulders at the wheel. Help us to see through that commitment we have to all of you, and above all, with our América.

Un fuerte abrazo,
Manuela Aldabe
2004 Authentic Journalism Scholar

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