We
are all affected by AIDS pandemicFour Years of Community Broadcasting – Amazing joke?
By Mazuba Mwiinga
March 25 of each year by now is a date every media practitioner at
Radio Chikuni hardly forgets. They at least get together to celebrate
the station’s anniversary. This year being the fourth one.If
you ask one of its broadcasters Musonda Mukanu on how Chikuni Community
Radio station came into being; he will tell you a tale that can last
longer than the story itself. If you try to challenge him with probing
questions, he will say: “Hey don’t argue you weren’t
there”. And definitely this shows more lines of hard work lined
up in thefoundation on which today we are all basing our hopes. Musonda
being the first volunteer for the station tells me that before even
the foundation was put on the ground, there was a group of village
committees called ‘Friends of Radio Chikuni’. Their duty
was to assess the needs of having a reliable means of communication
in their communities. I am told no one was so serious as to whether
this was workable. Though the committee members walked from home
to home; it seemed to be a social adventure for them to show their
elitism in the community. No one really believed much in what they
carried out. It was like cracking a big joke that you will have meat
for super when all your teeth were replaced with plastic ones due
to old age. Its really hard to argue because, fours years down the
line – Chikuni Community Radio has proved to be not just one
of the best community stations in the nation, but also one of the
mediums that has showed the people that community broadcasting is
more than community participation on the face of it. But it’s
all about community programming, for the community by the community.
The station has involved at least all sections of human development.
From a more musical point in the late 1999s and early 2000, the station,
expanded to a more educational, entertainable and informative media
that has captured the livelihood of the listeners. Today the station
boasts of 55 Radio listening Groups set up in target areas. It has
News Reporters that have narrowed the information gap and brought
the community so close to the station. From one Media Scholar, then
called volunteer, Musonda Mukanu, the station has increased its junior
staff to six. And from four senior staff the station has now six.
Let alone the other one who just left. From as little as about 10
programmes in a day, today the station has on average of 22 programmes
in a day covering of religion, culture, agriculture, politics, health,
education and gender to mention just a few. Their staffs are a group,
may I say, of multi-talented and skilled personalities, I believe.
I have been watching its movements from the time I joined it in 2001.
The space has been so systematic, realistic and well managed. Times
have been there when sacrifice and tolerance had to be endured. Just
as the job description entails one to be on alert twenty-fours a
day, handling such situations had been one of those on the job training
experiences one came to face. Looking at the dedication, commitment
and good work done by the Radio Team, you wouldn’t argue with
me if I say the Team love their job to the fullest. Though they might
have personal struggles that could be in touch with their work, consensus
has been the key word. Remaining on air for four years has not been
a fun joke to crack anyhow. Teamwork, commitment, sacrifice and endurance
have been the major sources of their ability to perform. Their selfless
welcomes attracted much community participation that enhanced the
radio with its flag of reaching out to every part of someone’s
life. As we celebrate the Radio’s Fourth Anniversary it would
be insufficient for me not thanking all those who contributed in
one way or the other in the setting up of Chikuni Community Radio.
Their contribution has not gone to the waste. If they were investing
in uplifting someone’s life, then their objectives I believe
have so far been achieved. Thank you very much. May your kindness
bring you everlasting life. Congratulations to all the Radio Team.
Continue beating the same path. AMULIKAMBILE
But remember not to look back in anger, nor forward in fear but at
present with awareness Aluta continua
