What happened to Aché Adoum Attimer, the "StopBlabla" ambassador?
For the past seven years, the Chadian Aché Adoum Attimer has been Canal France International’s (CFI) beneficiary, co-trainer and project coordinator in Senegal. The daughter of a diplomat and a true believer in the spoken word, "Chef Aché" has become a pioneer of solutions-based journalism in Africa with her project... "StopBlabla".
The beginning of the end... At the start of the closing workshop for the CFI’s Afri'Kibaaru project in Dakar, 42-year-old Chadian Aché Adoum Attimer, a co-ordinator in Senegal, goes from one participant to the next, handing out laminated badges and printed programmes. A word, a thought for everyone. A smile on her lips, and a teasing little ambush. Flashback to seven years ago. 2017—As chief operating officer for the media outlet tchadinfos.com, Aché took part in the first session of the Naila project. Her personality immediately caught the eye of trainer Eric Le Braz: "Spontaneously, all the other participants called her 'Chef Aché', because she exudes a natural authority".
A long-standing character... "At school, when she was asked to do something, Aché never gave up! I have a daughter named after her and Aché is her godmother, because I want my child to be a fighter like her," explains Khadidja Adoum Attimer, Aché's older sister. A fighter, yes, but also a bit of a dilettante... "At secondary school, Aché had a brain for maths, but she told herself 'the less I do, the better I'll do"! On the other hand, as a class representative, she would improvise as a lawyer to defend a classmate in front of the teachers", recalls Bassiratou Illa, a Nigerian friend whose father was an ambassador in Egypt, like Aché's father.
Born in Belgium and educated in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Aché Adoum Attimer felt herself to be a flag-bearer from an early age: "I was often the first Chadian woman people met. I had to rise to the occasion! Having been exposed to other cultures now makes me comfortable navigating in multicultural environments". A polyglot, Aché speaks French, Arabic and English, and "has a few notions" of Spanish and Wolof.
SoJo = equations to solve
In 2001, she obtained a scientific baccalaureate (maths option) and began studying to become a chartered accountant in Senegal. But, soulless numbers didn't keep her happy for long. Aché Adoum Attimer dropped out of school and started work as an administrative assistant at UNESCO. She went on to become a placement advisor for vocational schools and then head of partnerships at the African Regional Centre for Technology (ARCT). In 2015, she discovered the world of the media as chief operating officer in Chad for the communications agency Open union, then for the website Tchadinfos.com.
From the very first session of Naila, Aché's thirst for learning seemed inexhaustible: "Benefiting from the experience of media outlets from 11 countries was the best journalism school for me! I had no problem saying 'we need to start again, I want to understand'! Solutions journalism (SoJo) awakened the equations I loved to solve in me". But, along with the other Naila participants, Aché is faced with an equation with several unknown factors: "I asked them, 'Why don't you put some solutions in your media?" Determined to launch "a digital form of media showcasing useful, constructive information, and 100% solutions in Africa", Aché Adoum Attimer created "StopBlabla" in 2020, and then put some of Naila's former beneficiaries to work on its "African tour of solutions".
podcast
"Together, we can go further"
Thanks to CFI, Aché is taking part in a SoJo training course for instructors in Prague for the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) and, in 2021, became one of their 24 ambassadors and one of their trainers. She also acts as a SoJo resource point in various training courses and contributes to several episodes of the CFI-France Médias Monde video tutorials and testimonials, "Conseils de journalistes" (Journalist Guidance). Since 2021, she has been the Sahel member of the Board of Directors of Informations pour le Monde Suivant (Information for the Next World). Her instructor, Eric Le Braz, sums up the road travelled: "Aché is a pioneer of SoJo in Africa. It's a good way of investigating without putting yourself in danger, by showing initiatives from other countries, for example".
A fan of the proverb "Alone you go faster, together you go further", Aché takes her time. "At StopBlabla, I want to have soldiers who understand my fight. I can't call myself 'StopBlabla' and offer ‘blabla’ instead of an investigation as I understand it", concludes the ambassador of truth.
In 10 years' time...
What will Aché Adoum Attimer be doing in 10 years' time? Khadidja, her older sister, seems to have only one certainty: "She's going to surprise me as always! People are going to bring her out of the shadows"! Her childhood friend Bassiratou Illa imagines a logical next step: "Aché likes to stay in the shadows, but SoJo allows her to speak with other voices. In ten years' time, I see her deploying SoJo in Africa, because she has a very pan-African side. In fact, perhaps in the future she will be working for an international institution, such as the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie or UNESCO".
Eric Le Braz is more or less on the same wavelength: "A single country like Chad or Senegal is too small for Aché! In ten years' time, I can see her setting up and running a pan-African media, thanks to her ability to engage in dialogue and bring together different nationalities". A close friend of Aché, Souleyman Abdelkerim Cherif, adds: "She recently told me about a film project to show the cotton production cycle". Unmasked, 'Cheffe Aché ' confirms. But the founder of StopBlabla also wants to structure her online medium to make it "a natural movement in the media landscape with producers of useful and constructive content". Once the torch has been passed on, Aché Adoum Attimer would like to start writing: "I'm always surrounded by artist friends, crazy people. They're the only ones left in peace, because we let them do what they want"!
Portrait by Emmanuel de Solère Stintzy (https://www.journalistesmediateurs.com/).
To find out more about the Afri'Kibaaru project, visit the project page : https://cfi.fr/fr/projet/afrikibaaru