JOURNALIST

LLR:   Tell us a little about you- your early childhood, upbringing, education.

I was born May 6, 1972, unto the union of Mr. Robert G. W. Azango and Mrs. Bertha Baker Azango. I was the youngest of three children and we lived in the family home in Paynesville, outside of the capital city of Monrovia. We were brought up in a Christian manner and attended church every Sunday. If by any chance a person did not go to church, you would be punished to cut grass or clean the entire house of seven rooms, six bathrooms, a living room, dining room, a big fountain Area, kitchen, laundry room and store room.

We were taught moral discipline and how to be independent in life.  

LLR: What inspires you to write generally?

I am inspired to write for positive changes to take place in my country. As journalism is also intended to create a debate, so I write to create a debate so that more changes would take place for the common good.

LLR: Who are some of the people/things that influence you?

People that influence me are the everyday people, because they are always around during the rise and fall of regimes and they feel the pinch more. I am also influenced by human rights violations, poverty, health and education. I write about violence against women and children, because they are the most vulnerable group in any society, and if I do not write what they feel, nobody will know.

LLR:   What role does your family play in your writing?

My family gives me the moral support whenever I am writing about any issue.

LLR: Why did you choose your profession? When did you know you wanted to be a journalist?

In fact, I did not choose to become a journalist, because I always said I did not want to die poor. But instead, I wanted to be a hotel manager to make my own money and live a luxurious life, but life has a way of choosing for you what you least expect.  The beginning of the civil war in 1990 changed my plans, because I was forced to run into exile and lived as a refugee, or less than a second-class citizen. My rights were violated on a daily basis and when I arrived in Ivory Coast 1996, there was no more refugee camp, so I had to rent from the Ivoirians. And at the end of the month, when you delay in paying the landlord his rent, you do not cook, because he will kick your pot from the fire and say: “If I do not eat, you will not eat as well, unless you pay my rent”   I had nobody but UNHCR to speak for me as a refugee and UNHCR already had dockets full of cases to solve and mine wouldn’t have made a difference, so I swallowed the bitter pills until I returned to Liberia.

But when I returned home and met citizens living the same life I lived in Ivory Coast under the elected government of Charles Taylor, I felt sad and decided to do something in the future.     .    

LLR:  All things considered, do you wish you had chosen differently?

Even though I did not want to die poor as a journalist but equally so, I do not regret being a journalist at all. Because I believe that the pen is mightier than a sword, and that pen has help shaped the destiny of my country.

LLR:  If you could change/improve one thing about you, what would it be?

That would be to put a lock on my mouth, because I talk nonstop for hours, without knowing it.

LLR:    What’s the biggest mistake you almost made?

When I almost got myself killed for writing about FGM.

LLR:   What character traits do your friends use to describe you?

The controversial Mae Azango, Troublemaker, Mamie talk-talk, the fearless and big mouthed journalist, aunty Mae, one of the best female Journalists of our time, among many others.  

LLR:    How would you describe yourself using five words? I know it is not much but…

I am no-nonsense, fearless, forceful, consistent and persistent.  

LLR: Tell your fans two things about yourself they don’t know about you.

I am passionate about what I do and I do not take no for an answer.

LLR:   Would you consider yourself a big-picture person or a detail-oriented person?

I would consider myself as a detail-oriented person, but Wikipedia has made me a big-picture person because I wrote on FGM and received threats.

 LLR: There's no right or wrong answer, but if you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be? What would you be doing?

I would like to be on a cruise in Europe right now and sightseeing.

LLR: Let’s talk books. What are your favorite Liberian books? Why do you love them?

I like a book called: Murder in the Cassava patch, by Bai T. Moore, and a book called Why Nobody Knows When He Will Die, by Wilton Sankawolo. I love those books because they teach moral lessons of life.

LLR:  Can you talk a bit about the inspiration for your writings? How you select your assignments? What were some of the things that motivated you and kept you going?

What inspires me is when I write and it makes an impact in someone’s life. Like for example, when I wrote about a 12-year-old girl who was raped by her 22-year-old neighbor, a kind-hearted individual and his American partner volunteered to school the child through college. It changed the girl’s life as well as her mother’s life, because she could not afford to send her kid to the mission school that her daughter now attends. Seeking justice for the voiceless and seeing change motivates me and keeps me going.

LLR: What is your writing process? How do you do it? How do you pick your topics?

As I said, I write about the everyday people because they are always around during the rise and fall of regimes, and their opinions matter. Whether you like it or not, they too form part of the society and the government.  

LLR: As a Liberian journalist, what advantage/disadvantages are there?   

I would say the advantage in being a journalist is you write to point out ills in society for a change. However, the disadvantage is, people attack you for writing sensitive issues and many people shy away from you.

LLR:  How has Liberia influenced your works, and what do you think of the future of journalism in Liberia? Where do you think it is headed?

Liberia has influenced my work, because it set the stage for a debate, but the future of the press in Liberia is muscled. Because the Government wants the media to dance to their tune and if you tend to go contrary, you go to jail or your printing house is shut down, as my editor Rodney Sieh was jailed for criminal libel and our newspaper office was shut down for months.

LLR: What is your impression about Liberian women journalists? Why aren’t they speaking out more?

We are not very many female journalists in Liberia and half of the number we have, are speaking out, while the other half is silent due to different factors like, cultural practice of women not speaking out, fear of threats, being looked down on by male journalists and lack of self-confidence.

LLR: Now this here is tricky but…. Many consider you as having established yourself as the primary female opponent of FGM in Liberia, why? Why take that position Can you talk a bit about the inspiration for your writings?

Point of correction, I am not the primary female opponent of FGM or female circumcision, but as a journalist, one of my roles is to educate the public. I took on the topic of female circumcision to point out the medical implications according to a doctor and a midwife because the procedure had claimed the lives of many women and girls in my country.

The forty-eight-year old lady in my story called: “Growing Pains” disclosed that she was taken to the Sande bush at the age of thirteen and was held down by four women while the fifth woman cut her with a knife that had been used on 25 other girls.

The doctor said the procedure of using unsterilized instrument on two or more persons is dangerous, because it transmit diseases, such as HIV/AIDS from one person to another and causes tetanus at some point.

 Liberia has the third-highest rate of maternal and newborn deaths in the world and female circumcision is a contributing factor, so this was why I was inspired to take on the topic that nearly cost me my life.   

LLR: We have a female president and women have made up strides in Liberia, but in hindsight do you think that we have done enough all things considered? Or could we have done more?

We would have done more if our president, who is Africa’s first female, was fighting for women in Liberia. I am saying this, because when I was in hiding in 2012, my president did not speak for me, but instead, against me.  She told the Columbia School of Journalism that I wrote the story to get political asylum in the United States whereas I had visited the US two times in 2007 and 2010 before I even took on the story in 2012.   

LLR: What are the greatest challenges for a modern Liberian journalist especially in terms of social justice, freedom, professionalism etc?

Liberia is said to have freedom of speech, freedom of movement and expression but those things are only on the books but not implemented. Social justice and press freedom is another ball game, because journalists are not free to write about corruption without being harassed, intimidated and jailed. Professionalism is another thing, because it is usually said journalists are the watch dogs of society, but who watches the watch dogs? Many media houses do not pay their employees sustainable salaries, so many of those journalists get handouts or bribery from politicians. Yet the Press Union of Liberia is yet to address this main issue.      

LLR:  What do you think of the future of writing and publishing in Liberia?

It is very difficult right now, because you are either for or against.  

LLR:  What do you think of digital media in general? Would you advise writers [published/aspiring] to use E-book or Self-publishing?

Digital media is zero in Liberia, because the internet service is very, very poor. When it rains, we do not get internet service for three or four days. Therefore, I won’t encourage writers to take advantage of those service, because they won’t write their books using digital service in Liberia.

LLR:  What advice would you give aspiring journalists?

I would tell aspiring journalists: “If you came in the field of Journalism to make money, you better think again, because there is no money in the profession, unless you want to do yellow journalism to prostitute the profession and make money from other people. You have to have the passion.

LLR:  What are you currently working on? What are some of your future projects?

I am not working on anything because I am visiting the US presently.