12/07/09
In keeping with its pledge to seriously promote the forthcoming Gbagyi radio series dedicated to women farmers, Kaduna state Radio, our partner in the implementation of Majalisar Mata Manoma: a Meeting Place for Women Farmers connecting with Radio and Mobile phones, advertized the program daily for three weeks prior to the launch.
Time has finally arrived and in a few minutes, the radio program will commence… We are hitting the airwaves folks! Being the first show, the program will be formally introduced to listeners who are at liberty to call sometime during the broadcast. Also, we will be addressing issues with regards to water scarcity which is undeniably, a major concern for families in our focus community (Gwagwada).
We just got the “studio time” wave alert so we will see you on the other side……
We all (ARDA) are on the other side of the show glass while the presenter and the Gbagyi woman leader are on air. Using scripts sourced from Farm Radio International’s website and adapted to suit our purposes, the show takes off. On our side of the glass, we chat lightly all the while snapping and filming pictures, anxious and wondering if there would actually be callers. The presenter plays a pre-recorded vox-pop and we think “ok, now, where are the callers?” Then 8 minutes into the show, just when we are thinking we would have to rely on our recorded discussions and interviews, the phone rings and thereafter, it continues to ring off the hook. We all couldn’t be more pleased. Different people and surprisingly, many women call in and relate the issues they face because of water; the cleanliness of water, the scarcity and such related issues. A few solutions are proffered by the experts and we know it, time is up. So the presenter tells everyone to tune in next week for more solutions. He also encourages people who have found ways of managing water effectively to share their experiences by calling in to the next episode.
Confession time: Ok, it was not all about farming as one caller actually called to ask where he could get the music that was played. You see, we used the indigenous music of the Gbagyi people as a means to endear them to the program and by and large we were happy with the outcome.
Backstage, after the program ends, ARDA and our consultants discuss consequent follow up and hire someone to transcribe and transcribe the episodes into English for us.
Next week, we will be on the ground at Gwagwada to monitor the progress and reception of the women and men of our listeners clubs. We have lined up another expert to address other aspects of the water issues raised and we have also identified and downloaded some other scripts from Farm Radio international’s website to complement the expert guest’s talk. Stay tuned ’cos this project will only get better. Amen!
