2010 hasn’t been kind to Haiti. Not that the past few decades – or even two centuries – have been generous, but an earthquake, hurricane and the introduction of cholera have made these past eleven months particularly challenging. It’s also why there has been so much hype about Sunday’s much-anticipated presidential and parliamentary elections.

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika had just returned home from New York where he had been attending a UN heads of state summit to review the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), making a detour through Havana—a city known more for its cigars than for its pies.

As is customary, he held a press conference when he touched down at Chileka International Airport and used the occasion to flay his critics for complaining that his numerous foreign trips were draining the national treasury.

Editors Note: Knight Fellow Edem Djokotoe investigates the fishing industry in Malawi

The future of Malawi’s agriculture could lie in the hands of people like Heinrich Sitima, a 14-year-old school boy I met during a farm visit in Chiradzulu, a rural district some 30 minutes’ drive from Blantyre. He lives with his parents on Wambeu Farm, a 10-hectare sprawl with pigs, goats, cows, fish, bananas, cabbages, tomatoes, onions and a animal feed enterprise.
   Heinrich Sitima at Wambeu Farm in Chiradzulu Heinrich wants to be a farmer when he grows up.

Six officers from New York City were standing around the tent camp in Haiti. Several questions later, the reporter I was working with had his first scoop.I generally reserve Tuesday mornings to work with Louis-Jean Olivier, a young journalist with the Haiti Press Network. Although Olivier had been studying journalism at the State University, he didn’t start working as a reporter until after the January earthquake, when on a fluke he ended up filing a story for HPN. He so impressed HPN’s owner that he was hired on the spot and has been working for the agency ever since.

It’s been almost two months since I took up the Knight Fellowship and six investigative journalism units in Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank are up and running.

Training for both broadcast and print journalists at several different media outlets has been completed, and investigations are underway in the areas of stock exchange corruption, road accidents and even business by some influential business men who are also prominent politicians.

In Jordan, Farah Al-Nas Radio has completed an investigation on child alcohol consumption in a Jordanian border region.

When the sky turned black and the rain started to fall last Friday afternoon, I took refuge in a shelter enclosed by glass on two sides. I watched as the first tree that fell bounced off the roof of the shelter, and then crashed onto the parking spot next to my car. Seconds later another tree fell, and the wind continued to sing like a tortured soul as branches hurled around me.

All I could think about was the camps. The camps. At least I had a secure roof over my head, one that had survived the quake.

The challenges of setting up an investigative reporting team in Haiti reflect the challenges of the country as it tries to lift itself up from the weight of the January 12 earthquake. Management of resources, strategic planning, access to verifiable information, planning, insufficient infrastructure and materials, as well as security concerns influence, and in many cases hamper, Haiti’s reconstruction effort. These same elements enter into the reporting equation as well, only more so for investigative reporting.

How do you put out a paper when riots have paralyzed the city?

By building calf muscles as strong as Diego Forlan’s!

We walked. And walked. On day 2 of the riots, Fernando Mbanze, the editor of Savana sister’s publication, Media Fax started walking at 6:30 am and reached the newsroom 22 kms later, at 10:30. Several times the Savana car tried to reach him but either protesters or police, barricades of burning tyres or random shooting, prevented the car from going through. So Mbanze walked on.

Fearing their cars might be stoned, damaged or burnt, car owners did not venture out.

Editor’s Note: Mercedes Sayagues is a Knight International Health Fellow working to improve coverage of health issues in Mozambique. She found herself in the midst of violent riots in Maputo this week, and her reporter’s instincts took over.I was 50 meters away when the bullet hit Helio Rute, slicing a chunk of his skull. Helio was 12 years old and heading home when he was caught between rioters and police on Acordos de Lusaka avenue in Maputo. He died on the spot, one of more than half a dozen killed today.

Last year, the aluminum production company Mozal quietly requested authorization to operate with direct emissions (or bypass the filtering system) while repairing its Fume Treatment Centers (FTC) for six months, at a cost of $10-million. "Sub-optimal engineering in the centers," was the bland term used by Mozal assets president Mike Fraser to explain the need for repairs. Translation: shoddy quality.

The smelter, one of the largest foreign investments ever in Mozambique, is visible from the highway linking Maputo to South Africa.