Last year, I had occasion to go to the Voice of America. It was an interesting experience. I met a number of people who work there — and they all had a story. Of course, everyone has a story. But these stories were of a particular kind.
Typically, a VOA employee has come from somewhere else — some closed or war-torn society — in search of a better, freer life. He is now engaged in the business of broadcasting the news — reliable news — to people where he came from, in his native tongue.
This is not a bad way to spend a life or career. It helps both America and that original country.
You can’t write about them all, of course, but I’ve written about one: Myroslava Gongadze, the head of the Ukrainian service. Obviously, her last name is Georgian, but that is her married name: Her husband was an extremely brave journalist with a Georgian father (and a Ukrainian mother).
Anyway, I have written a little series, in two parts. The first, we publish today: here. I think readers will be glad to know Myroslava Gongadze.