Today was a good day. It was finally time to go to Chamgiwadu, the community we are setting up a community radio station in and have been thinking about for 4 months. It took a little while to get there as we had to wait for a bigger bus to arrive, but it meant we had time to sort out some of audio equipment and decide what we wanted to use. After another great lunch and a scenic drive we arrived at the village. The plan was for 3 social workers to give a talk on some of the issues in the community and how radio would help solve them, so we had to document it through video, photography and audio. We had to move rooms initially as it was too echoey, so we moved into a larger hall and started to set up the cameras.
The process was a little challenging, with the set up of the room and it’s lighting. We are still getting used to working with each other and the equipment so there was a lot of differing opinions on angles and settings, but this is what working with others is all about and I think we are satisfied with the result.
The talk itself was incredibly insightful and inspiring, hearing about all the issues surrounding FGM and violence against women and children and how these women plan to address them with community radio. One thing that stuck with me was that without the knowledge, people don’t know their own rights so don’t actually know that they shouldn’t have to be put through violence. This is something I think community radio could really help start conversations about.
the full group!
After the talk finished and questions were asked, we packed up and hung out outside for a bit and took photos. We went back to the university and had some more great fried fish. Back at the hotel we played a game and had a beer to unwind. Tomorrow we are back to Chamgiwadu to meet the Chief and meet some more community members.
What a weekend spent discovering Kenya’s sights! We began with a long, bumpy ride to the archeological site of Thimlick Ohinga – thankfully the bus survived it! Though the anthropological history was incredible to learn about, I was distracted by the colony of bats in the ‘first wife’s’ bedroom. They were rascals to photograph and film but a few of us hung back and, with patience, Ellie managed to capture a beautiful photo! We also spotted a couple of nests, huge clusters in the trees belonging to hamerkops! Along the walk through the settlements were swallowtails, but sadly no sightings of monkeys. The following day, a long journey to Lake Simbi paid off as we witnessed a group of wild flamingos wash and feed on algae. A few local folk told us tales about the lake and how it came to be. Fascinatingly, no animals survive in Lake Simbi. Besides the algae, there is no life! Around the lake, it was thriving however, with cattle and many birds, big and small. We stopped off at Homa Bay, walking down a jetty on Lake Victoria. We could just distinguish mountains in the distance, across the largest lake in Africa. The marabout storks were fascinating to watch, perched in trees, on telephone poles, flying above us, and walking the streets, shoulder height with passers by. Finishing by watching the sunset, it’s fair to say we each felt particularly mesmerized by Kenya after this weekend.
After a good night’s sleep and a filling breakfast, we squished onto the minibus and headed to Rongo University. We couldn’t meet the Vice Chancellor, but we enjoyed icebreaker and name-learning games with Rongo’s info-coms students. Everyone immediately connected and got along! We also walked the campus a little and passed time playing on the grass! Peter held a seminar for Brighton and Rongo students, dissecting ‘community radio’ and establishing the difficulty in defining ‘community’. We believe it encompasses connection, collaboration, support networks, shared beliefs, benefits and interests, common ground, and a sense of cohesion and togetherness. We are hoping the radio will facilitate communication, share voices of the community and help to connect members. This was the first meeting between students since 2019, and we are off to a very good start!
After a gruelling 26 hour journey from my door in Brighton, England to the Treat House Resort here in Rongo, Kenya, spanning 1 train, 3 planes, and 1 van, we finally arrived. Sleep deprived and hot, there was very little we could do except relax and (eventually) enjoy a lovely vegetable curry.
After a long sleep, we set out to Rongo University to meet the Vice Chancellor and some of the students. Unfortunately he had been called away to a meeting in Nairobi, so we spent some time on the campus exploring the grounds. We had already felt some Kenyan hospitality, but it was amazing how welcoming everyone was, taking time to come and say hello to us and tell us we are most welcome. A maths teacher called Bob Omandi took a break from his lesson to come and talk to us, telling us about how people here are named. After a delicious lunch, we met the Rongo media students and had discussions on what community and community radio means to us all.
The next day was Saturday, so we drove for about 2 hours to the Thimlich Ohinga archeological site. Sitting at the back of the bus on the dirt roads was an experience but the views on the way were worth it! The site is a 14th century Luo settlement of four walls with huts inside for the chief and his wives (polygamy!). We were guided round the site by a very knowledgeable host but poor Libby had sun stroke so she just slept under a tree. We also met a very sweet dog who we called Lentil as we fed him some lentil samosas! We got back to the hotel and played a very hectic game of Irish snap, which I think amused (bemused) the staff and other guests!
the team under a huge cactus
On Sunday we were promised some flamingos which we were all very excited about, so we drove off to Lake Simbi. When we arrived there were none in sight, but thankfully we turned a corner and there they were! Not too many of them mind, and they weren’t pink (which Anya had spookily predicted in her dream), but we were thrilled nonetheless. Some locals told us the myth of how the lake came to be. Apparently there was once a village on top of a hill where the lake is, but when a women visited and was treated without welcome, the rains started and sank the village and the hill to become a holy lake. In reality (and just as interestingly), it is a volcanic crater without any inlet or outlet. Nobody knows how deep it is and it sustains no life due to its high alkalinity. On the way back we stopped at Homa bay and walked up the pier a bit. There were huge Storks the size of children there! We went back to the hotel and played some more cards but we got an early night as the next day we had to get to work.
flamingos!
On Monday morning we drove to Rongo University, and met the Vice Chancellor in his fancy office and listened to him and Peter speak about the progress of the radio station. The project seems to have stalled because they want it to be a state of the art, modern station, but as we learnt later in Peter’s lecture on the characteristics of community radio, it should suit the economic ability of the region and be run by members of said region. Everything is ready to start broadcasting, so hopefully this will happen soon! After the lecture we got hands on with the equipment, splitting us and the Kenyan students up into groups of video, photography and audio. We practiced and figured out everyone’s ability, filming a fake interview with me and Katie, which was quite funny. The food has been consistently great at Rongo University but tonight’s food has to be the best – amazing fried fish with lentils and chapatis. We got back to the hotel and Rachael got her suitcase back after 5 (!) days after it was left in Istanbul, so that was a happy ending to the day!
Community Media 4 Kenya 