Said Mze Ali, director of the production department of Comoros' national TV station, has not received salary from the government since he took the job about one year ago, but he is still happy about his job.

"I am working for my country, my country needs me," he said in an interview with Xinhua earlier this week.

Before he joined the national TV in March last year, he had worked in a TV station of Tanzania's Zanzibar island for nearly six years, enjoying regular income and insurance. He was also actively involved in the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival.

He decided to give up his comfortable life there when he made a two-day stopover in the capital of Comoros Moroni on his way back to Zanzibar from a business trip.

"An Information Ministry official told me that the National TV was to be launched soon and it needed professionals like me," Ali said.

"It is like a dream becoming reality," Ali said, referring to the official launch of the TV station on April 7 this year.

Ali left his country after graduating from high school in 1995. He went to Nairobi of Kenya with 1,000 euros (1,200 U.S. dollars) he borrowed from parents and friends.

Before he went to work in Zanzibar, he worked as a photographer for a Kenya-based news agency in French speaking African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for about three years.

"I have a determination to go back to my country someday. I want to make change to my country. It is my dream," he said.

He described the day when the national TV station was officially launched as "a big moment" and "a moment of joy."

Comoran President Azali Assoumani and foreign diplomats, including Chinese Ambassador to Comoros Tao Weiguang, were present at the ceremony, which was broadcast alive.

The launch of the TV station is a result of international efforts: the Chinese government built a white Islamic-style building facing the vast Indian Ocean for the station, providing the station with a whole set of state-of-the-art equipment and furnitures, having trained 23 technicians.

The French government provided journalist training while Saudi Arabia donated vehicles.

Before the launch of the station, Comoros was one of a few African countries which did not have a national TV station.

Ali and his colleagues all dressed up at the ceremony, but Ali could not wear his cap to match his traditional-style robe because he had to wear earphones and microphones to give instructions to his team.

The presidential run-off held on May 14 was the second major event covered by the station. Now the crew are planning to broadcast alive the new president's inauguration ceremony scheduled for May 26.

Arrearage is a common phenomenon in Comoros, which is one of the poorest country in the world and is heavily dependent on foreign assistance.

Asked whether he would continue to stay if he could not receive pay for another year, the 33-year-old said "things will get better, as long as I can still stand up, I am alive, I can fight."

Source: Xinhua