Dedication and commitment, key qualities that a community newspaper seeks in a journalist

"You haven't been a journalist if you didn't work for a community newspaper". These powerful words came from Theresa Olivier, editor of Worcester Standard, where she addressed the 1st year Journalism students of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on 27 September 2011.

A lot of people think that working at a community newspaper is somehow a disadvantage but it actually provides the opportunity to be part of the people who lives in the community. The community put their trust in journalists to inform them and keep them informed about matters that concern them. The Worcester Standard has been in existence since 1880 and they are growing by the day.

Oliver who is a former student of CPUT started at Die Burger in 1991 and has been an editor for 10 years. " Dedication and commitment are the key qualities that we look for in young journalists"' says Oliver. She also mentioned that she has a "soft spot" for students who come from CPUT and she will not hesitate to employ students from this institution seeing that the University of Stellenbosch only focuses on the theoretical aspect of Journalism. This newspaper gets distributed in 16 towns and they also cover issues in Robertson, Tulbagh and Ceres.

Ken McIntyre who is a journalist at Worcester Standard says that journalists are not specialists but they cover a lot of things. They generate their income through funding from local businesses and advertising.

Eikestad News in Stellenbosch is also one of the newspapers who helped with the growth of the community to engage in reading their newspaper. This newspaper has been around for 60 years.

Elsabe Retief, editor of Eikestad News says even though they are situated in a poor community they strive for the upliftment in the community and they cover most of the things that lies in the interest of the community.

To be able to excel young journalists should not lack enthusiasm that is expected of them

Golden opportunity to brighten the future

"I have a vision for the future so that I can accommodate more children and I would like to cater for the less fortunate", these were the words of Aldie Wilskud on 27 September 2011, the project manager and owner of the Haas Das Daycare in Villiersdorp Road, Worcester.

Haas Das is one of the five finalists in Die Burger and Boland College's competition in which a pre-primary school out of the region of Boland College stands a chance of winning a classroom in the form of a container to the value of R80 000 and learning material to the value of R20 000.

Haas Das is a registered school which has its existence since 1985 until now and they are currently looking after sixty children. Wilskud also said that she is very passionate about children and she says she is very excited that they are one of the finalists because she believes that children must have enough resources for them to receive the rights that they are entitled to.

Morne Meyer who is not only a celebrity PR but he also manages the marketing and corporate communications at Boland College in Worcester. " When they had to select a creche they looked at the management of the school and if the principal meets the requirements of the Department of Education", said Meyer. Specifications that are looked at for the container is if the ground is big enough for a truck to enter the premises.

Another school who is one of the finalists is the Teletubbies Play School in Klapmuts. The initiative started with three ladies who were jobless. They saw the children running around in the street and that's how they ended up opening a creche. At this moment they have 45 children at the school ages one to five.

According to Cheryl April they deserve to win the container because they have a limited amount of space to offer a wide range of activities to the children.

The pre-schools are in need of this container and the public can vote for them by sending a SMS for the pre-school of their choice to 34282

Naz and Eldo