I was not aware of the power and impact of Citizen Journalism when I joined Ground Report in August 2007. In fact, like all the knowledge I have learned by self study and practice, I wanted to practice my English to improve it (which is still not improved to the extent I want).
For that purpose, I wrote reports time by time and posted them to Ground Report many of which were appreciated by the readers who wrote emails to me and asked for keeping it up. Meanwhile, I earned a little money, too which encouraged me to write more responsibly and accurately for this great site.
I have posted a total of 74 stories so far. But it was the tragic story of an Afghan woman, Nazia, which I posted on December 23, 2007 with photos that attracted a wide range of readers and published by many other websites with a link to the Ground Report. Over 7000 people have read the story on this website.
After it was published, a few surgery and medical organistaions contacted me for help of the woman who was in a severe condition of her life in a hospital of the troubled Zabul province, Afghanistan, without anyone caring for her. Theses organizations approached the hospital and gave her better treatment after which she was able to hope for her life.
Thus Ground Report played an important role in saving the woman’s life and gave our voice a wider audience for which I am very thankful; in fact it is a great creation of its founder, Rachel Sterne, and indeed, a very important part of the citizen media.
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