We're now a few days away from the start of the The Digital Tools for Public Service Journalism course. Monday, the 19th of May, marks its beginning.

A total of 42 applicants were selected to take part of these three weeks of online training.

They have a diversified profile. Altogether, 18 of the selected candidates are professionals from the country's media outlets, either newspapers, magazines or websites.

But we've also chosen a good number of citizen journalists and of reporters working for smaller news outlets: a total of 10.

We did it...but actually, not yet. It was very tiring, we had some very long days of work, consumed a good deal of coffee and didn't have that much of sleep in the last few weeks, but I hope it will have been worth it.

We've nearly concluded the very last Unit of the AT&T sponsored course Digital Tools for Public Service Journalism. Right now, we are only going to correct whatever bits need to be changed and then we should be ready to roll.

We have, so far, received 75 applications of candidates with a somewhat diversified profile.

But, no, it is far from over.

Now, it's a duo.

The journalist Fabiano Angélico has joined our ranks to be the assistant trainer for the Digital Tools for Public Service Journalism course, sponsored by AT&T, and offered by the ICFJ with the support of our partner Abraji, here in Brazil, in the months of April (online part) and May (in-presence activities).

Fabiano brings the best of both worlds.

Those who've watched the TV show "Friends" might recall that the characters never knew exactly what was the job of one of their best mates, Chandler Bing.

Well, for well over a month I knew how it was to be in Chandler Bing's shoes, although, on my behalf, I must add that what I am doing is far more exciting than working in a data processing job, like Chandler.

First of all, there isn`t a title, as I had in the past: correspondent, producer, reporter, none of those fit the mould.

I had, and still have, to come up with a tagline, which went something along these lines:

" I`m recruit

The title is the name of a film by one of Brazil's leading film makers shot in the 60s and it somewhat summarizes the best and the worst of the country and these first days of my stay.

It has now been a little bit over one month that arrived in São Paulo, Brazil, where I will kick-start the fellowship which aims to train citizen journalists to cover poverty related issues and to see that the news stories they develop reaches the country's mainstream media.

On a personal level, at least I overcame some initial difficulties.

Editors Note: The author discusses the growth of the Kiswahili dialect in Tanzania.

For decades, Tanzanians have cherished their version of Swahili, considered to be the purest in the region. But in the spirit of opening up, they now seem to be accepting the "less pure" versions of the neighbours.

Last week I gate crashed into a retreat of top Tanzanian editors and media managers that was taking place in Arusha and it was a most rewarding experience.

It is the holy month of Ramadan during which Muslims all over the world fast and abstain from all forms of entertainment. Here in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam, life has taken a slow pace that can be felt almost everywhere and all the time.

From the lighter traffic on the usually congested roads, to the quiet night spots which during other times of the year are literally vibrating with life, you can almost feel this city of five million souls meditating.

This is the last day of training for the the Knight International Journalism Fellowship, with the International Center for Journalists.

These five days were highly demanding, but also extremely rewarding and offered invaluable information, vital to when I reach the ground in Brazil.

What difference can a newsletter make? Quite a bit, judging from the launch of a modest new publication in Uganda. Designed to serve health journalists, the “Uganda Health Reporter” is making a bid to help spearhead diverse training programs and become a rallying point for professional development.

“The first step is always the hardest.”

Editors Note: A group of journalists set out to investigate reports of demons in rural Uganda, but they ended up learning a few things about public health.

As I sped down a narrow dirt road enveloped in a cloud of dust in Hoima District, Uganda, I must admit I wondered what in the world I was doing. I had begun a stint as a Knight health journalism fellow three weeks earlier, but here I was with a reporter and photographer from New Vision, Uganda’s largest newspaper, bouncing toward the isolated village of Kiziranfumbi about three hours west of Kampala.