* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The learning process starts when we are born and ends when we expire.
The learning process starts when we are born and ends when we expire. This is a common and well-known fact. But in real life how many of us stick to this? Every one of us knows the answer, at least for ourselves.
After working as a journalist in a developing country, Pakistan, for years, I found little or no chance to make further progress in my particular beat, and the urge to gain some deep knowledge of financial and business news made me apply for a training course offered by Thomson Reuters Foundation.
I was lucky enough to get a positive response. Writing Financial and Business News, a one-week course in London, was something that excited me. At first I thought - how will I learn about the mysteries of this huge and dry subject and how will I cover a lot of ground in just a week? And I travelled to London with this confusion.
On the first day of training, we interacted with the trainers, Camila Reed and Alan Wheatley. I didn’t know a lot about them except that they had worked at Reuters for years.
We were eleven participants who came from different countries and different cultures. This was also the first experience not only for me but also for the 10 other participants of sitting and learning together.
Camila started the training on a very relaxed note. She told us that we would have to cover a lot of ground in a week, which made me a bit worried. But as the training proceeded, we all found it quite interesting. Actually, the way Camila and Alan were teaching us was awesome. The style of training made us comfortable and language was not an issue for any of the participants, who were able to ask questions at any point.
During the course I found out many things which I realized I already knew but had never put into practice. But the majority of topics were eye opening for us, especially the use of social media. The visit to the London Metal Exchange and the video conference with the World Trade Organization’s spokesman were beyond our imagination.
Writing practice along with some fun exercises taught us to think beyond the boundaries. Choosing the source, getting the knowledge of how financial markets, central banks and the economy of any country work, were among other learning points of the course. When the training ended, we felt that we had gained the maximum in this short period of time.
“No one in my country taught me how to cover financial issues so it takes a while to learn, whereas at Reuters it was explained in a really simple way,” said Elizabeth Machuca from Mexico, another participant. Elizabeth’s views more or less echoed those of every participant on the course.
There are a lot of other things I wish I could write, but on behalf of all the participants, who are now buddies, I would like to thank Camila and Alan and the Foundation for giving us this opportunity to learn what we might never have learnt in our own countries. We are all sure that implementing this learning will put us on track for the success we all wish to have in our careers.
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