By Stevens Muendo
"I recall some frightening moments when I was reporting from Iraq last year. We were in a building when we heard a big bang and a slam on the door. Five minutes later, the house was shaking. It had been bombed."
This is Isha Sesay, the charming CNN anchor and reporter on the station’s International Desk, and the narrative is rendered in a calm and reassuring manner that has endeared her to many viewers worldwide.
Isha Sesay, CNN anchor and reporter . [PHOTO: COURTESY] |
Sesay has been to many parts of the world, some of them most volatile, and was in Nairobi this week on her way to Uganda. She is in Kampala for the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards.
"It is not fun being in the midst of landing (military) helicopters. I mean, you land at the airport in Iraq, wear your bullet-proof jacket and hit the ground running knowing that only God’s grace can sustain you. It takes a lot of faith and courage to be there," Sesay say about reporting conflicts.
Breaking news
Indeed, Sesay is the envy of many journalists who dream of covering breaking news assignments. She was in Zimbambwe reporting the disputed 2008 elections; covered the Russia-Georgia conflict; the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; the kidnapping of British toddler Margaret Hill in the Nile Delta; the death of Slobodan Milosevic in the Balkans and the historic elections in Liberia where Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became Africa’s first female president.
Sesay’s resume includes top interviews with world leaders such as Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, President Lech Kaczynski of Poland, Liberia’s Johnson-Sirleaf and President Ernest Bai Koroma of her native Sierra Leone.
"My father passed on when I was 12," Sesay says of her roots. "He was an attorney and a very hard working man. My mother is a doctor. The rest of the family live in Sierra Leone. I am the only one on the road," says the Atlanta-based journalist.
Acting dream
"Sometimes I look back and think: I don’t like the situation in Sierra Leone. I am thinking of giving back through girl education charity work when the right time comes," Sesay says. Incidentally, Sesay took up journalism rather hesitantly. She initially dreamed of acting, and perhaps even heading to Hollywood.
Then there was the legal allure, no doubt prompted by her father’s training. But that was never to be. Born in the United Kingdom and one of three children (an older sister and a younger brother), Sesay moved to Sierra Leone with her family at the age of seven. At 16, she returned to Britain for her A-Levels and later joined Cambridge University’s Trinity College where she studied English. This was her turning point. Soon, her acting ambitions were surpassed by a passionate desire of TV journalism.
"Initially, I was just a volunteer working for BBC Scotland and after a short while, I got a job with the station. That was around 1998. 1n 2002, I joined Sky News," she recalls.
It was at Sky where Sesey’s popularity grew while presenting Good Morning Sports Fans for Sky Sports News. It was her highest point. She had a chance to meet and interview sports icons such as former boxer Michael Watson and Ellen MacArthur. Sesay recalls travelling with Arsenal Football team during exhibition matches in support of Nwankwo Kanu’s Foundation. She later moved to ITN before docking at CNN in 2005.
Memorable moment
"Sports and entertainment reporting were a little bit laid back. I think I like what I am doing right now," says the presenter whose work includes hosting and reporting for CNN’s Inside Africa programme and anchoring daily news programme on the International Desk.
She also presents CNN’s Backstory in the absence of regular and popular host Michael Holmes. "I have done live coverage from Mecca and Medina during the Hajj and it’s always amazing to witness the sea of humanity. But my most moving moment was when I covered President Barack Obama’s maiden address to the UN General Assembly. It was a historical moment and a memorable one for me," she says in clear reverence. Besides all that success, Sesay does not see herself as a great achiever yet.
"I don’t feel like I have made it yet, even though am happy about what I am doing. I want to give more to viewers the various things that impact people’s lives. There are many places I want to go and many people I want to interview," she says.
Legal advisor
Sesay’s mother, Kadi Sesay, a former lecturer, entered Sierra Leonean politics in 1992 as a Government advisor.
Her father who worked as a legal advisor to the Sierra Leone Produce and Marketing Board before he passed on after contracting hepatitis while on a trip abroad. Sesay says her work commitments do not leave much time for herself.
Like most people in very public work, she cherishes privacy. But changing people’s lives, for Sesay, appears like adequate trade off for the little inconvenience.
