My interview on Jamuna TV, Bangladesh

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig being filmed at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

21st February 2015 was our last full day in Dhaka and had been booked up but with a few cancellations was quite free. There had been someone calling Mum all morning, wanting to interview me for Prothom Alo, Bangladeshi's biggest selling daily newspaper. They finally had a brief chat with me and asked me to come over for an interview in the evening but said that they would call back in an hour.

We on our way to visit an elderly Nani, when Mum had the call back. The interview was actually with Jamuna TV a Bangladeshi TV station and we had to get to them at 7 pm http://www.jamunatv.net/#.

The journalist, Zahid Hossain Khan, also represented Prothom Alo Newspaper, which was where the confusion had come from. Anyway, I wasn't dressed for a TV interview but there was no time to go back and change now.

Whilst visiting relatives near Dhanmondi, from about 5.30 pm I was suggesting to Mum that we leave for the TV Station. Mum kept saying we were fine for time, until she suddenly realised it was gone 6.30 pm. It was only then that we rushed on our way and Mum phoned from the car to at least check that it wasn't a live interview, which at it wasn’t.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig being filmed at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

By the time we got to Jamuna TV, it was 7.30 pm and we were half an hour late. The team was running around and obviously stressed. The offices were modern with plenty of space to film interviews in rooms with desks. Once they started filming, they took footage of me walking in and out of rooms and looking serious. Then they interviewed me and I tried to talk as much as possible about the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, why it’s such an amazing bird and why we need to save it.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig being filmed at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig being filmed at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

Then they made Mum do an interview in Sylheti about how I got into birding, which she hated and said was really embarrassing as her Sylheti is pretty basic. I'm determined to learn some now before I come back here.

Helena Craig being filmed at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Mya-Rose Craig

After the interviews, we had the look at the editing suites, studios and then went to upstairs to meet their MD, Simon Dring, who is a British media man now living in Australia but coming and working in Dhaka for months at a time. It was all really interesting and they definitely made me feel special.

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Zahid Hossein Khan at Jamuna TV
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig

By 9 pm we were on our way back to Gulshan to meet friends having had a really interesting time. My interview was shown a week later on 1 March 2014 but unfortunately they had cut my comments about the Spoon-billed Sandpipers, which was a real shame.  The link for the programme is http://bit.ly/1BmYqYh and I am at 10:27 minutes.

About the writer

Young Birder Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker.    She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world.  She was the youngest person to see 3,000 birds in 2013 and she hopes to see her 4,000^th bird in Antarctica, her 7^th continent, in 2015.  Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter