Amjambo Africa: Georges Budagu Makoko & Kathreen Harrison On Covering The African Experience in Maine

On this episode, Mark Simon was joined by Georges Budagu Makoko and Kathreen Harrison, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Amjambo Africa, a monthly newspaper and website published in 6 languages that is devoted to covering the African immigrant experience in Maine.

Georges and Kathreen talked about Georges’ journey to the United States and Kathreen’s career as a teacher and how they came together to start this publication. They discussed how some Maine residents were welcoming and others throughout the state were not.

They explained how the paper functions and the kinds of stories they publish – in addition to news, opinion, and features, there is a poetry editor and pieces providing assistance on such things as money management. They also talked about the message they hoped to get across both to the immigrant community and to Maine residents.

They also offered advice on starting a publication of this nature and gave salutes to different journalism organizations they worked with.

Thank you for listening. Please rate and review our podcast. You can email me at [email protected] or find me on Twitter at @journalismsalut

Important Links

Amjambo Africa website

Amjambo Africa Twitter

Article on Georges’ life and background

New York Times article on the increased African population in Portland, Maine