Category CM4K Participants Contributions

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Jan 19 2018

19/01/2018: Meeting the Community for the first time!!

Once again, I am going to start this blog by talking about my evening yesterday. After dinner, we went home via the Treat House Hotel to pick up some beers. They were only 200 shillings a bottle (£1.40), a right bargain! Luca showed us all up by buying a couple of beers for our driver, Bituk – so I will have to find a way to one-up him in the future! Once we got home, I showered and changed before tucking in to a nice cold bottle of Tusker – delicious! Unfortunately, it was still warm out so the rest of the beers were not as refreshing, but they still hit the spot.

This morning I woke at 8am, my head thankfully feeling okay. I washed and dressed before reading my book The Social Contract (Jean-Jacques Rousseau). I was interrupted by Luca crashing out of his room and, very gracefully I must say, falling over. Thankfully he is okay! We left for the university at 8:45am and was greeted, as per usual, with a delicious breakfast. Afterwards, I followed the other guys as they tried feeding the dogs (Ludo and Mama) some mandazi, but ultimately the dogs were too scared.

Our lecture started at 10am today and I was reintroduced to the members of the community. I took some pictures whilst Peter was giving an introductory lecture, it proved to be difficult as the windows to the side of the room backlit almost every single picture. We were then split back into our groups from yesterday, we were joined by four of the community members, the rest split off into the other groups. We discussed four questions with the community groups:

  • What does geography mean to you?
  • What are maps and how can we use them to plan and operate a community radio station?
  • What are community assets?
  • How do communities communicate with each other?

We learnt some very important information during this exercise, most notably that the communities have weekly meetings with each other to discuss their problems, the chiefs then relayed this information to the government, who provide the solutions. I also learnt how they use schools and churches to distribute the information in their communities.

I found the communication between myself and the community members quite challenging as they spoke Swahili and I, obviously, do not! Thankfully, Halima and Mercie translated for me and explained everything the community members were talking about.

After lunch, we unfortunately had technical issues with the geo-mapping on Google maps. Therefore, the lecture was cut short and the community members left. Eve asked me to help teach her some basics on Adobe Premiere Pro, so I sat down with her for an hour and showed her how to cut using the in/out method.

I’m finishing this blog as we wait for dinner and after completion, we are going to head down to the little shop on campus to buy a drink.

 

Sam 🙂

 

P(oo).S. My bowel is still happy and in full working order.

Jan 19 2018

Week 1- Friday

Waking up today was a bit difficult as I was extra tired as we stayed up the night before chatting and having a few beers & ciders. Once we were all ready we headed to the university for another amazing fully packed with energy breakfast. We had some time to kill after breakfast so we tried to feed the dogs, Ludo and Mama before a few of us sat in the shade and the others sat in the sun for a quick tan before lecture. While outside we had a friendly visit from a butterfly (later named by Katie as Florence) which took a rest on Luca’s back and posed for our photos allowing us to get close enough to see its beautiful wings.

The Cham gi Wadu community arrived around quarter past eleven so we waited on the rest of the Kenyan students before getting up and greeting the community members. We then went around in a circle introducing ourselves. We started from the community and ended with Peter. Once greetings were out of the way we watched the video that Sam produced the year before as part of his placement module. This was the second time some of us watched it, including myself and I enjoyed it as equally as I did the first time. I find the video extremely informative, well filmed, and edited. The video showed the dedication and team work between the Cham gi Wadu community and the students of CM4K.

Once everyone got the chance to see the video Peter began the lecture by putting us in the same groups as the day before and adding 3-4 community members to each group. The group I was in consisted of 4 Cham gi Wadu community members, and 7 students. We were asked to discuss four questions: What does geography mean to the project? How can we use maps to plan and operate a community media station? What are the community assets? And last but not least, how will the radio station improve communication between the communities? As a group, we also discussed the relevance of the community radio station shows and what would have interest to the local communities. For example, we would have radio shows based around fishing and how to fish as well as how to keep your fish alive instead of a sports show as this would benefit the radio stations listeners more. Peter also went around visiting the groups. When he reached our group, he emphasized the relevance of community mapping as well as its important elements. These were: the local people and how they educated, lived and ensured survival. A new form of geography called – neo geography. After our group discussion, each group shared and reflected on what they discussed. This allowed us to hear the different perspectives and points from each group. After this we broke for lunch.

This time the Kenyan students where on time, some even early. This allowed us to start the next part of the lecture early, although that did not happen. We were meant to go out and practice mapping with the community as not everyone including the students knew how to do it. But we did not get the chance to do this as the smart phones that were available did not work. So, Peter then decided to explain it using his laptop that did work. He showed us examples that he had already done and what he expects it to look like after we have uploaded all the locations. Once this was over Peter decided to end the lecture for the day. We said our goodbyes and began our lengthy blogs as a group once again.

P(oo).S. My bowel movements are still regular and I have yet to accept any remedies.

Jan 19 2018

19.01.2018 – Luca

This morning we were being picked up at 8:45am again, I set my alarms nice and early (early for a student that is) and started to get ready. I was quite tired, and me being me I managed to fall over (in style) on my way out of my bedroom, whoops – at least it was comical for everyone who saw. It was very funny and I now have a little scrape that is now a nice memorabilia, haha. After that, on the way to the mini-bus I saw a Praying Mantis! I adore all of the wildlife out here, so it made me really happy to see such a beautiful little insect. I really wanted to pick it up… But I managed to resist the urge somehow! Just look at this precious little face:

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After we hopped on the famous mini-bus, arrived at the university and ate some (amazing) breakfast we spent some time relaxing in the sunshine whilst waiting for members of the Cham gi Wadu community to arrive. Once they arrived, the CM4K team each took a moment to greet and introduce ourselves. It’s so nice to meet the community that we’ll be working so closely with during our time here. After introductions, we then had an informal discussion where the community updated us on progression from their end, and Peter then answered questions relating to this. After the discussion, we then had a question and answer session within our groups which really racked our brains! Despite the challenge, we all received a diversity of answers and all learnt a lot – it was brilliant to hear first-hand responses and it was a very insightful exercise. We had originally planned that after lunch, we’d go out in our groups and practice geo-mapping in preparation for the real thing next week, but unfortunately, we could not get an internet connection and without it, made the task impossible as internet is required. Nevertheless, it was a good reminder that just because things do not always go to plan, we can work together and face these challenges. We plan to retry on Monday after having the weekend to discuss and plan a solution, please keep all of your fingers and toes crossed for us! Here’s a little snap of my group:

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll catch you next week.

– Luca

P(oo).s. Movements are all normal, if not better from all of the healthy food we’ve been eating. 😉

Jan 19 2018

Day 4

We got some beers on the way home last night which we awesome. We picked them up from the treetop hotel I think its called. Tusker is the local beer, its about 4.2% and tastes similar to Budweiser beer back home. We hung out in the courtyard just chatting and smoking. Sam’s our official bottle opener as he has a neat trick with opening the bottles with a lighter. I went to bed at about 10:30, getting up at 8am and being out in the sun all day has got me into a really good sleeping pattern! Better than the 3am bedtimes I’m used to after work. Also, my shower finally works! Turns out I hadn’t flicked the switch that turns on the hot water lol although I don’t mind having a bucket and flannel shower. I remember them from when I was in Ghana and enjoyed showering like that but it’s useless when I need to wash my hair.

The bus came for us again at 8:45 and took us to have breakfast at the university. I have got into a routine of having a hot chocolate made from Milo (Nestle) and Weetabix with hot milk and a banana. I’m never too sure what has meat in it so its safer for me to stick to what I know. The food here is amazing though I’ve eaten so well the past few days.

After breakfast we had an hour to hang out so we went to feed the stray dogs. We have two favourites a female we’ve called Mama and a male we’ve named Ludo. We then went up to the classroom at 11:30 to start the work for today.

Today is all about meeting the community and starting our work on asset mapping. We started by doing introductions 11 Cham gi Wadu community members. Isobel, Irene, University of Rongo Students and University of Brighton Students and Peter. Peter explained that we are working towards the project and that we are not a charity and NGO so it will take its time. He has costed up everything and for the equipment and solar panels which is going to cost £20,000 and 3 million Kenyan shillings. Andreas has sent up crowdfunding page for the project, the concept of crowdfunding was explained to the community. Isobel is sourcing Luo artefacts to gift as thank you for big donations. Everything is underway the two things holding it back is money and the short time were here due to distance.

Peter then explained the layout of today which starts with watching the video produced by Sam last year, then a lecture by Peter then lunchtime then in the afternoon we will do mapping exercises. He then talked through the process of mapping, including what it is and how it works with the end of the day resulting in an understanding between how it is important to have CBPR and community radio. I made notes on today that I will upload to the discussion board as its all a bit heavy for the blog. I enjoyed the discussion that they had around these ideas. It was so lovely to see the community members with their notebooks making notes about what we were saying and asking us to explain things that they didn’t understand.

At 2pm we then went for lunch. When we came back we were expecting to have a practical of asset mapping however it didn’t go to plan. The mapping didn’t work on the Rongo student’s smart phones so it was called off. Internet isn’t the best here so often it is pretty hit and miss to if things will work but hopefully we won’t have this problem when we go to do our fieldwork.

Were going to stay at the university and wait for dinner. It gives us some time to work on our blogs but also for me to connect to the Wi-Fi and check my Facebook and Instagram, finally! And my emails too as I have over 40 waiting for me on my phone since Monday.

Finally, we have decided to keep everyone updated on our bowel movements because its about 90% of what we talk about at the moment haha so,

P(oo).S I’m still fine for now, touch wood, although the lentils are deffo starting to have effect

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Jan 19 2018

Week 1- Thursday

We left for breakfast at the university a little after 9. After breakfast, we started our first lecture: Community Radios in an African context. During this lecture Peter split us up into groups of 3, dividing us 5 Brighton students into groups of 2 and 1 mixed with the Kenyan students. Peter then highlighted a very interesting point as we were dividing. He said; “There will no longer be any Brighton University students or Rongo University students, there will only be CM4K – a partnership”.

In our groups, we discussed the meaning of community media and why it was important. As a group, we pitched in our individual understanding of the project and what it meant to us. We then asked the Kenyan students who took part last year about what their experiences with the field work was like and what the community originally brought up that was an issue for them. We also spoke about the radio station radius/footprint, its investments and how to increase those investments. I mentioned to the group the idea of the 10% saving method that I learnt from a Rabbi that I once met.

After this we took a 10-minute break which was misunderstood by the Kenyan students as an hour break. This brought on a lot of banter about Kenyan timing as well as our experiences of friends from home who runs on their own time and the phrase black-man-timing (BMT). During this break, Luca also had a mini photoshoot with his two fan girls. I was very tempted to start talking marriage gifts with them, I thought 4 cows, 2 goats and 6 chickens was a good deal.

After the break, we continued our discussion of investments by talking about steak holders and partners. In our groups, we discussed who the right people would be to have invest on the project and how we can make sure their voices don’t over power the communities’ voices. We were then given an hour lunch break as the cooks had brought us another amazing meal. Let me not get into how good the food is.

Again, us Brighton students got back on time whereas our fellow partner students got back between 30 minutes to an hour later. Once we were all back and seated we moved on to the next lecture: Community based participatory research approach for community media. For this lecture, we looked at what a community based participatory research is by sharing our understanding of the difference between methodology and methods. We discussed this further by linking it to our individual dissertations. The lecture was then concluded by looking into the definition of community profile and linked a quote by Hawtin, Hughes & Percy-Smith, 1994 – to our definition of community project. After our lecture as a partnership group, we sat in the room and typed up our blog entries with a few distractions of course.

Kassim, one of the Kenyan students mentioned the fact that I was not feeling well throughout the day and offered me a herbal mix that you drink with hot water. At first it sounded like something I’d like…he sold the remedy so well until he ended it with “but you cannot eat the whole day” which at first, I was like “I could do with a food break” as I felt slightly over fed. Then he said, “and you must sit by a toilet as it will give you diarrhoea”. This instantly put me off! Faster than anything as me and the others were itching to see who the first victim of diarrhoea would be, and I did not want to be the first…

P.S. My bowel movements are still regular without the help of Kassim.

Jan 19 2018

Day 2…..and so to work

Today was probably the toughest day we will encounter during our time here. We have a tight schedule but I needed to get the students into the correct headspace and there was a lot to do. One of the drawback of working in this lovely land is the heat in a classroom. No matter how enthusiastic they started off and they did the heat was going to make them tired. Especially as we had much ground to cover before the community come in for our first meeting tomorrow.

The morning session was actually the killer for the students. During my lectures I always like to get the students into breakout groups to discuss certain points we’re covering and report back. This morning’s session focussed on Community Radio in an African context. This is based on the work of Abdou Sarr “Community Radios – Tools to promote peace, culture, democracy and development in Africa” which tells stories and shares experiences of various community radio initiatives across the continent. Whilst here in September I had gotten the media Studies Diploma students to review the text by section and took notes (compared to my reading of said text) of their presentations and their reflections on the arguments and issues raised by Sarr. Subsequently I knocked it into shape for a presentation but as I hadn’t used it I had no idea whether it would work or how long it would take. Well it worked well enough and generated some really interesting discussions among the students when they reported back from their breakout sessions. The problem was it all led to a very long session for the 12 Rongo and 5 Brighton students (as well as me).

One of the points I made to them before we started was that for the next 2 weeks there are no Brighton or Rongo students – there are only CM4K students who are co-investigators with our community partners. The ice breaking games the day before had got them communicating socially. This session was intended to get them communicating intellectually.

The much shorter afternoon session was designed to introduce them to community-based participatory research as a methodological approach and how community research is linked to community media practice through inquiry, discovery, knowledge sharing and dialogue. All attributes of community-based and community learning. Although a shorter session than the morning lecture it tied together CM4K’s approach; jogged a few memories among students from both institutions and prepared them for tomorrow’s session with the community when we employ CM4K’s PEARLS approach (Partnership Education: Action Research & Learning Scenarios) and introduce the concept of community communications asset mapping.

After dinner, we visited the Treat House Hotel where I sometimes stay to buy a few cold beers (we earned them today). I was greeted like a long lost friend by the staff which was very heart warming. We then spent a pleasant evening sitting in our little social area (a sort of folly – I’m sure there’s a proper word for it but my brain has switched off) which is encircled by the rooms of the Pastoral Centre. It was my first chance to socialise with the students since we arrived and the chatter and humour was very relaxing.

Jan 18 2018

Learning about the community

Blog – 18th January 2018

Whilst preparing for bed last night, I heard a loud shriek, quickly followed by Angel bursting into my room in a panic. My first thought was someone had appeared at her window, however it came to be known that it was just a cute little lizard hanging out in her bathroom. Like the brave solider I am, I captured the lizard in a box and set it free outside.

Woke up at 8am as we had to leave at 8:45am. After breakfast, we started our lecture at 10:30am that contextualised community radio and community participation. Firstly, we gained an understanding of community radio, what its purpose is and who is affected by it and split into groups to discuss it. My group consisted of myself, Halima, Charlotte, Geoff and Mercie. We had an engaging discussion and shared our collective knowledge. Afterwards we discussed who the stakeholders would be for the community radio station, and how we will gain their support without losing the focus on the community.

After, we broke up for lunch and I decided to bring my camera outside as I hadn’t used it yet. I took some ‘candid’ photos of the other guys as they were chilling, I think a few turned out quite well!

Our final lecture of the day started at around 4. It was centred around research and research methods and, considering I done a whole module about it last year, I should have understood it. However, it very quickly became apparent that everything that I thought I had learnt had gone straight out of the other ear and didn’t stick with me. However, the Kenyan students were switched on, and thankfully they saved my blushes.

I’m writing this blog early tonight, so that I can grab some beers on the way home and chill for the evening. I canny wait for an ice cold Tusker.

 

P.S. Bowel movements are still regular 🙂

Jan 18 2018

Day 3- CM4K Lecture

After a fun day yesterday with bulldog and What’s the time Mr Wolf? I woke up with an aching body from running too much. Starting the day as usual with meeting in the court yard for the others and heading to the minibus for Rongo University to have breakfast. Breakfast was nice as usual consisting of sausages because we can’t get enough of them.

At 10am we went to the lecture hall for a lecture held by Peter called Community Radios written by Abdou Sarr. The presentation gave a talk on community radio and the tools to promote peace, culture, democracy and development in Africa. Us Brighton students were split in twos and grouped up with the Kenyan students, as we began our group work. Getting into these groups I remembered what Peter had said to us at the beginning of the lecture, “there will be no more University of Brighton, and University of Kenya students, there will only be CM4K. A partnership”. With this in mind we began one of our many group discussions regarding community media, community radio importance and the 3 dimensions of participatory research model. These group discussions helped me understand the Kenyan’s intellectually and how we would work whilst out doing our community work.

At 2.30pm we had an hour break for lunch which was tasteful as usual, and having my playful of fruit as desert. After lunch we carried ourselves and our grown stomachs outside to sit in the sun. Using this break we enjoyed each others company taking photos of each other and having a laugh about our toilet issues. Our second part of the lecture was about research and who were the academic researchers of the community radio, during this lecture we were back into our groups making thorough discussions and sharing with the class.

This second part of the lecture was intriguing and a lot to take in however after a big lunch with a big stomach I was feeling sleepy, and the hot room didn’t help. The lecture breezed through and as we came to the end, we spent the rest of the time in the class room talking to each other and with the Kenyans.

Shoutout to Kassim Mohammed for trying to make me leave my phone with him in Kenya, whilst he gives him his brick phone (or as the Kenyans call it Mulika Mwizi), or as I call it a trap phone.

As we wait patiently for dinner with a big anticipation with what we are eating, we are looking forward to our drive home to buy our beers and to drink it in the cool air in our courtyard and recap on our day.

Jan 18 2018

18.01.18 – Luca

Hello!

I can’t say I’ve ever written an online blog before, however I have spent various hours talking to myself and I feel that may be similar? Haha!

So, without further ado! Our day was due to start at 8:45am where we’d be catching a ride in our little mini-bus into the University of Rongo for breakfast, though, my day started at 4:30am where I was awoken by what I thought to be a GIANT bug in my bed… I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast, but as you can imagine, it wasn’t a bug, and in fact it was just some pillow sponge which had fallen out of the case… I felt better though when one of my other classmates said the exact same thing had happened to her, and suddenly I felt less embarrassed about being a scaredy-cat, haha.

Fast forward from my ordeal and a bit more sleep (undisrupted by any sponge this time) we got out breakfast! The food is truly phenomenal here, and I haven’t stopped eating. I already know I’m going to miss the food, especially being so motivated by my stomach!

After breakfast, we headed to our first class with our fellow students. Pete gave us a nice reminder that we’re no longer University of Brighton students and University of Kenya students, we’re CM4K and we’re a partnership. Our session was Community Media for Kenya, and we worked within groups and covered a lot of topics. I really enjoy working with others as you learn so much from other people’s perspectives. We also spent time talking about the project in relation to theories, and I know that I personally feel so much more excited (which I didn’t think was possible) now that I have gained a better understanding of what we’ll be doing during our time spent here, working with the other University students.

At lunch, I also found the cutest little bug friend (expect lots of insect updates) who used me as a climbing frame. I’m not sure what type of insect it was, perhaps some type of shield bug?

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All in all, it’s been a great, but very tiring day. I have seen and held many bugs this afternoon, and thankfully not got bitten, however I am probably pushing my luck and don’t want to jinx it! We’re now off to relax for the evening, eat more good food, drink some beer and enjoy the sunshine. For now, have an out of context photo of us all playing What’s The Time Mr Wolf yesterday!

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Luca 😊

Jan 18 2018

Day 3

The bus collected us at 8:45 to take us to breakfast which was delicious as always. We’ve all taken to the food really well, and we have our favourite seats which it seems we won’t be changing for the entirety of the trip.

Lectures were due to start at 10am however in Kenyan time that end up being more like 10:30. Everything is a slower pace compared to the Hussle and bustle of Brighton that we are used to.

The first lecture was focused on a work called Community Radios written by Abdou Sarr. It looks at tools to promote peace, culture, democracy and development in Africa. Peter divided us (UOB students) up into two twos and Sam by himself to join the University of Rongo students. We split into three groups of 6 to participate in the lecture and discuss our views and opinions. This is so important for our understanding of community media and maximising our potential on the CM4K project. Engaging with one another will help us to learn to engage with the communities we will be visiting next week.

At 2:30 we took a break for lunch. We used this opportunity to head down out of the classroom and onto the field where were all sat together and hung out. I read a bit more of my book Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes). Hafsah and Sam got some photographs of the surrounding area. We are really bonding as a small group and really enjoying each other’s company. Mainly bonding over how our stomachs are coping and if anyone has been having toilet trouble. Which is a good ice breaker as we all seem pretty comfortable and confident with each other.

We started the second lecture a bit late again, it seems that time keeping really is not a priority here. This time the lecture was on Community Based Participatory Research, something UOB students had already covered before. This was our opportunity to help the students at Rongo to understand what we do as dissertations. Again, we split up into smaller groups to do this.

My brain was very tired after all the lectures that I was struggling to answer questions I knew the answers too. I think the heat here makes it difficult to totally concentrate. I’m thankful for the study rooms and lecture halls we have back in Brighton. I am going to post all my notes that I took from the lectures today on the discussion board as to summarise them on here would make this post more like an essay.

I think were going to get some beers to have tonight which will be lovely. I’m gasping for a nice cold beer or two. Its been a pretty overwhelming few days. I’m sure it will get easier as we become more accustomed to the heat and long days.

Katie x