Whitireia graduate's documentary airs on Radio New Zealand

A radio documentary produced by a Whitireia Diploma in Radio Journalism graduate aired on Radio New Zealand last night.

Lize Immelman began work on the documentary as part of her final assessment for the diploma last year, and the piece won the course award for ‘Best Documentary’. Programme tutor Sue Bergin had brought Radio New Zealand producer Amelia Nurse in as an assessor, and Nurse asked Immelman if she would like her help to get her story on air.

“It was such an amazing opportunity to get to work with [Nurse] and see how Radio New Zealand operates. Amelia is awesome and taught me so much,” said Immelman.

The documentary is about three New Zealanders who originally came to the country as refugees and how they have found the resettling process.

“The Radio Journalism programme is structured in such a way that you have to produce original stories on an almost daily basis,” said Immelman, who immigrated to New Zealand herself from South Africa in 2007. “It was during one of these story gathering expeditions that I met some amazing people, and I asked if I could tell their story.”

Immelman enrolled in the Whitireia Diploma in Radio Journalism as a means to pursue her passion for telling people's stories. She said the course was a life changing experience. “Not only did I meet the most talented and amazing people who joined me in class but also the award winning, caring and passionate tutors, who guided us and patiently shared their wisdom and knowledge with us.”

“I want to make a difference in people's lives, and in the world. I want people to care about one another. If I can make the smallest difference, it would be thanks to Whitireia, for sure.”

Follow the link below to listen to Immelman’s documentary, ‘Moved to Work’, on the Radio New Zealand website - http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/nz-society/audio/201756265/moved-to-work.