Me, and my career:RAGEH OMAR

[kadafi007]

Age
34

How I became interested in journalism
I first became interested in my teens. I'm originally from Somaliland and lots of my family have travelled far and wide, throughout Africa, the middle east and Europe. I grew up sitting around a kitchen table with people talking about Africa and the wider world.

I saw journalism as a really good way of getting out into the world and, as someone who was born in Somalia, educated in the west and is a Muslim, I feel at home in several different cultures.

First job
I wangled my way into a month's traineeship at the Voice newspaper in Brixton but my first real job in journalism was as a stringer for the BBC in Ethopia. I hadn't done any student journalism and so I went to see a few foreign editors who said that I should either go to journalism school or jump in at the deep end.

I really didn't want to go back into education, so I went out to Ethiopia in May 1991 with £800 in my pocket in the hope of getting some work. BBC Africa said they'd take occasional pieces from me. To get work I'd have to go off the beaten track and find a different angle.

There was no point in trying to compete with much more experienced foreign reporters. That doesn't mean doing dangerous stuff, just looking for a new angle. I came back a year later and was offered a job with the World Service.

Best experience
It's hard to single out one in particular but one moment that was really touching was when we were covering Kosovo along with thousands of other journalists. We were in a village on the border with Macedonia, doing a story about a hospital. All the soldiers had left and we were interviewing one of the main surgeons.

After we had switched off the camera, he said that it felt as though we had been with him every night. He had been hiding in a basement in Macedonia because there was no way of getting into Kosovo and every night he would translate our reports to all the others present. It brought home to me how much responsibility we had.

Worst experience
Last year I was the only western journalist in Kabul about a week before it fell. There was an American missile strike just 100 yards away from where we were staying. We realised we had to leave immediately but were surrounded by hundreds of Taliban and regularly got stopped at roadblocks.

My cameraman Fred Scott is an American and he had a satellite phone and a camera in his pocket. We were dealing with young Taliban men who were extremely frightened and the situation was pretty worrying. It was a good job I could speak Arabic - which I think pacified them a bit - and we were able to get out but it was a difficult situation.

Big break
It's hard in any media organisation for young people starting out. You're so full of enthusiasm and yet there are always other more experienced reporters ahead of you. When I was a stringer in the Middle East, I was one of the few western reporters allowed into Iraq around the time of the UN missile inspections in 1997 and 1998, so I guess that was a big break for me.

Training
It has all been within the BBC, which is still very strong - especially on the radio side. When I started out at the beginning of the 90s, the culture of going to journalism school was not as strong as it is now.

First salary
As a stringer I was paid by the piece. I got £45 for each dispatch and £60 for a live radio interview. Each month the BBC would send me out my little cheque with details of how many dispatches I'd done. Obviously it depended on how much news there was around at the time but it was quite tough to survive for that first year, even in Ethiopia.

Mentors and heroes
George Alagiah has been a role model and a really good friend. He's really down to earth and encouraging. Alan Little of the BBC, Charles Wheeler. I used to be amazed by Robert Fisk's determination and derring do and Daniel Beresford's stuff from here [Africa] and northern Ireland was very good as well. Also, Trevor McDonald because it was so amazing to see a black guy do what he has done.

Best advice I received
From various people, really. Just to trust in myself and to respect myself. I see so many people who want to do something just to get on but I was always told - and I've always believed - that if you do not respect the organisation you're working for then you should get out.

Worst advice I received
People who said to me: "Don't worry, if you hang around at the BBC long enough you're bound to get somewhere." That's still the view of some people outside the BBC but does not hold true today at all.

My advice to those starting out now
Don't be daunted and don't be shy in any sense. If there's a programme or an organisation you really like, call them, ask to come in and see them. You'd be amazed how often you get a positive response.

You need that chutzpah but also remember it's about integrity and storytelling. You must be able to listen as well as talk and convey the story as accurately as possible. Journalism isn't always about getting the big interview, it's also about telling the story of the man on the street.

One thing I would say is it's not always necessary to do a formal journalism course. Don't let it hold you back but come at it another way.