Saskia Houttuin is the new Africa correspondent of the NOS as of 1 March. The 33-year-old journalist will report on developments on the African continent together with current correspondent Elles van Gelder.
Houttuin has been a correspondent in Africa for RTL Nieuws for the past four years. She also works for Trouw and the VPRO, among others. Last year she was nominated for the journalism prize De Tegel, for her reports on refugees from Tigray (Ethiopia) who have sought refuge in East Sudan. She previously won the Philip Bloemendal Prize for journalistic presentation talent.
‘Rich in culture, but also in conflict’
The new NOS correspondent lives in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, but plans to move to West Africa in a year. That region is in the news a lot because of migration, climate change and Islamic terror. “It’s an incredibly interesting region,” she says of her upcoming move. “Rich in culture, but also in conflict.”
Houttuin wants to shed light on the news from Africa from a different perspective. “For example, by looking at how people themselves tackle their problems: Malians who plant forests to combat desertification, a Senegalese soap series that provides information about the corona virus, or a hip-hop artist in Burkina Faso who is trying to deradicalize local youth.”
Esther Bootsma, chief of the NOS foreign affairs editors, is looking forward to Houttuin’s stories. “We are getting an enthusiastic and now experienced Africa correspondent who has visited more than twenty countries in Africa over the past ten years.”
–
