John Kaganga and his Kikandwa Environmental Association young farmers, also known as his children.

John Kaganga is transforming the lives of rural youth. The retired teacher is inspiring young people to pick up their hoes and build a brighter future in Kasejjere village, 70 kilometres northwest of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.

Mr. Kaganga says: “When I returned home after living in the city for 20 years, I saw the community was lagging behind. Everywhere you looked, trees had been chopped down for making charcoal and the soil was degraded.”

To respond to these problems, he founded the Kikandwa Environmental Association, or KEA. With a garden hoe in one hand and a notebook in the other, Mr. Kaganga encourages children and young adults from seven to 30 years of age as they farm. The 59-year-old teaches his “class” to use farming as a way to achieve food security and tackle climate change.

He says: “I was born into a farming family. My mother died when I was only two years old, so my grandmother took care of me and taught me to love agriculture.”

The now-fertile farmland on which Mr. Kaganga teaches young farmers was once used for slash and burn agriculture. Farmers cleared all vegetation to create more space to grow crops. But many struggled to put food on the family table.

Mr. Kaganga explains: “This wasn’t environmentally friendly and caused serious soil degradation. When I started [KEA], my objective was to inspire young people to become sustainable small-scale farmers and to stop deforestation.”

There are 200 households and nearly 1,000 residents in Kasejjere village. More than 100 young farmers have joined KEA, including some of Mr. Kaganga’s eight children and ten grandchildren.

Claire Nakate is Mr. Kaganga’s granddaughter. The 14-year-old is in her first year of secondary school. She wields a hoe as she digs in the family farm alongside two brothers and four helpful friends.

Ms. Nakate says happily: “I like to do weeding and pruning and sowing seeds. Most of all I like to rear animals like goats, pigs and cows. Through farming I can get money for my school fees and food to eat.”

Her proud grandfather smiles broadly and sets down his hoe. Picking up a handful of soil, Mr. Kaganga says, “A lot of youth today want to make quick money, so they sell land to buy motorbikes or move to the city looking for work. Not many want to get their hands dirty.”

Mr. Kaganga thinks young people should turn to farming to create their own jobs. He says farming can have a huge impact on food security and the environment, if young people are taught sustainable techniques.

KEA is supported by Eastern and Southern Africa Small-scale Farmers Forum, or ESAFF, which helps to train many small-scale farmers in Uganda on sustainable agricultural practices.

Yvette Ampaire is ESAFF’s campaign and advocacy officer. She says, “It’s inspiring to see the work [Mr. Kaganga] is doing. He’s quite an exceptional farmer. He learns something, puts it into practice, and passes on the information to others.”

She is impressed by the ambition of Kasejjere’s young farmers. Ms. Ampaire says, “For them, the sky is the limit.”

Mr. Kaganga has helped Kasejjere become a model farming village. He has also established a community resource centre for young people to prepare for a successful future in agriculture. KEA’s library houses books on sustainable agricultural practices, environmental issues, and climate solutions.

Mr. Kaganga says, “Information is power. If we are going to solve the climate crisis, we must connect rural villages across the world to share information.”

Published online @ Barza Wire

Mr. Awe demonstrates how to use a forage chopping machine in front of his home (Babati, Tanzania).

Madanji Awe holds a recently-picked maize stalk which he has stripped clean of cobs. He places the long, yellowy-green stalk into a forage chopper and pulls the cord to start the motor. After a few attempts, the machine roars to life and shreds the stalk into bite-sized animal feed.

Mr. Awe grows maize, beans, cowpeas, vegetables and bananas. But he is most proud of his seven young, zero-grazed dairy cows.

He used to let his cows graze freely, but they did not put on weight or produce much milk, especially during the dry season. But with the forage chopper, he is much better able to integrate his animals with his crops. He can better feed them and collect their manure to fertilize his fields.

Mr. Awe lives with his wife and four children on a farm measuring just under a hectare near Seloto, a village outside Babati, 170 kilometres southwest of Arusha.

The 49-year-old teacher says, “The machines are expensive, but hopefully the government will subsidize the cost. It would help us produce livestock feed during the dry season.”

Mr. Awe looks after the three forage choppers that were placed on his farm as part of a project called Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation, or Africa RISING. The project is part of a donor-funded initiative in three districts of central and northern Tanzania that encourages farmers to adopt mixed farming and improved seeds.

Mr. Awe says, “This machine saves me time and labour. Plus there is no post-harvest loss.”

Farmers who keep both animals and crops use the forage choppers to turn dry, harvested maize stalks into animal fodder to feed their livestock during the dry season.

Mrs. Pascal shows her intercropping techniques at the plot behind her home (Babati, Tanzania).

Gregory Sikumba is with the International Livestock Research Institute. He says that research in Babati district showed that farmers didn’t have enough feed for their livestock. But now that the farmers have access to the forage choppers, this situation is likely to improve.

Monica Pascal lives in the neighbouring village of Galapo. She too practices mixed farming. She raises chickens and uses their droppings to fertilize the tomatoes, eggplants and amaranth that she grows on her quarter of a hectare plot.

Mrs. Pascal works with a group of 70 farmers. She trains them to intercrop vegetables and fruits and use manure to maximize yields on their small parcels of land.

Mrs. Pascal says: “I didn’t know much about nutrition. I was planting local seeds, but now I’m planting improved seed varieties and teaching other farmers how to improve the health of their families.”

Inviolate Dominick is an extension officer at the World Vegetable Centre in Tanzania, one of the partners in the project. Ms. Dominick explains, “We selected Mrs. Pascal as a farmer-trainer due to her leadership and communication skills. Farmers come to her plot to learn.”

She says that small-scale farmers in the project area are now better equipped to improve their families’ food security and nutrition, as well as generate income.

Mr. Awe is pleased that his farm is making a better profit. He uses the extra money to supplement what he earns teaching agricultural science at a local secondary school.

He says: “I am paid [only] a small amount as a teacher, so I need to make money as a farmer. I practice zero-grazing instead of allowing my cattle to graze in the open because I want them to be free from disease and not easily injured.”

Published online @ Barza Wire

Courtesy of Saptarshi Ray

KOLKATA, India – “When I first visited the slums…The community became my canvas and the children became my paint brushes and colours,” said Amlan Ganguly, founder of Prayasam (Endeavours) to me during an interview on the balcony of his home and office.

Prayasam is a community-based organization working with youth from six of the 65 slums in Calcutta, where groups of children and young adults advocate for change.

The 2013 documentary film, The Revolutionary Optimists, shares the story of a group of Indian youth in the city’s Rishi Aurobindo squatters’ colony and brick kilns, where child labour looks like modern day child slavery.

Known affectionately as The Daredevils, these audacious Prayasam members in Rishi Aurobindo have mapped their entire community and now work to educate others about vaccination campaigns and access to clean drinking water.

“Prayasam is part of a tradition that supports children’s rights and teaches them to make their voices heard in order to advocate for changes that will improve their communities,” states the Child Rights International Network.

Two of Prayasam’s most outspoken are the two main characters in the documentary film; Sikha and Salim. Both are now 17. These two young adults are leading youth to be the change we all want to see in this world, to paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi.

Agents of Change

Prayasam has a highly mobilized group of youngsters who don’t sit back and wait for their elders to clean up their community, city, and country. They take action.

I took some time while at Prayasam to help Sikha and Salim write up the English translations to their biographical short films, as well as suggesting some needed audio transitions which they added willingly. Both films were screened in Cape Town, South Africa at an international slum dwellers conference.

Watching Sikha and Salim’s stories told through film, I was blown away at how these two were able to direct a film, by using friends and family members to reenact the roles they played in educating marginalized members of their community on important health and education-related issues.

What amazed me most is how these two agents of change are completely bypassing the traditional news media in Calcutta, and India, by taking their stories to a wider, international, audience online.

Sikha even told me personally that it’s her dream to be a filmmaker, and is fascinated by cinematography, which she learnt a bit about during the filming of The Revolutionary Optimists. The making of this documentary film empowered her, and others, to begin producing their own videos.

On my visit to one of Prayasam’s youth groups, not Rishi Aurobindo but Nazrulpully, I met another group of boys and girls producing media for the world beyond their borders.

Nazrulpully is a slum located under and alongside New Town bridge in Calcutta’s burgeoning information technology (IT) sector. This area of the city is known as Sector 5, and yet most people I spoke to in the city don’t even know Nazrulpully exists.

I walked along a river bank, watching residents of the slum bathe and clean clothes, until I reached a small structure; the office of Prayasam’s youth group in Nazrulpully. Monish and Priya introduced themselves to me. They proudly displayed the numerous awards the group has won.

These two, along with a few others, produce regular videos about life in the slum. During their shoot, I stepped in to make some recommendations about framing and lighting. They took my advice and began filming: “Live from Nazrulpully!”

Changemakers

Okay they didn’t say this, but my Hindi language skills are non-existent so I just stood there watching. Again, I was excited to see how passionate they were in producing media (I’m sort of a radio and documentary film nerd, if I say so myself).

Courtesy of Angel Anusua

Monish and Priya took time to sit down and talk to me about the work they do here, in Nazrulpully. This award-winning Praysam group has collected books and opened a community library. The group’s next goal is to push policymakers for a new primary school, which would be the community’s first.

Calcutta stole my heart during my travels throughout India, and the reason for this was due to my visit to Praysam. Meeting the youth and seeing the work they do in their own communities was inspiring. It’s hard not to be inspired when you speak to Amlan Ganguly, a man who’s spent so much time empowering youth to be the change they want to see in the world, to paraphrase Gandhi once again.

I was even fortunate enough to take part in a puja, or ceremony, for the Hindu goddess of knowledge and learning, Saraswati, at Prayasam’s office in Calcutta. It was fitting that I participate in a ceremony dedicated to the idol in the Hindu pantheon I admire most; a woman advocating for education.

For me, it was a real educational experience to meet everyone at Praysam, and I look forward to returning to Calcutta to help conduct media training. Once its new Adobe Foundation grassroots film studio, as Ganguly refers to it, is up-and-running.

Mark Tully, the famous BBC correspondent based in Delhi wrote in his 1991 book No Full Stops in India: “Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, is synonymous with poverty and squalor. I would suggest that Calcutta’s bad name is not entirely justified, but there is no doubt that its slums and shanty towns should be fertile ground for revolutionaries.”

I couldn’t agree more with Tully, a fellow radio journalist. I can’t wait to be a part of the next endeavour at Prayasam. Let it be a journalistic one, something I’m much more familiar with so I can help them share their stories with the world.

“Each one, teach one,” as Ganguly would say.

Published online @ Medium

MALAKAL, South Sudan – 28-year-old Anthony Thon was only 15 when he was captured by the SPLA, Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, and made to fight Khartoum government forces in Sudan’s second civil war.

In 2005, after the signing of the CPA, Comprehensive Peace Agreement, he escaped the SPLA and returned to school.

After South Sudan received independence in 2011, Thon was teaching primary school students in Malakal. When the current conflict erupted in December 2013, Thon fled from his home to the UNMISS, United Nations Mission in South Sudan, base on the edge of town.

Thon now lives as an IDP, internally displaced person, at a UN protected camp in Malakal, South Sudan, where he works to educate and inform other displaced people in his community.

Julia Paulo Ding reporting for Nile FM in Malakal’s Protection of Civilians site.

MALAKAL, South Sudan – As the sun rises and a new day begins, Julia Paulo Ding gets ready for work in the two-and-a-half-by-four meter blue and white tent she shares with her older sister’s family. They all — three adults and three children — live together in a displaced peoples’ camp on the outskirts of Malakal, Upper Nile state, in South Sudan.

Ding, 22, places an Internews identification badge around her neck, then shoves a small audio recorder, headphones, pen and notebook into her backpack. She quickly leaves her temporary home in the United Nations Protection of Civilians (UN POC) site.

South Sudan’s 16-month-long civil conflict has devastated the world’s youngest nation, and has shown few signs of resolution since its eruption in December 2013. Even today, an astonishing 1.5 million people are estimated to have been displaced across the country.

Ding is a Shilluk, the third most prominent ethnic group in the region, following the Dinka and Nuer groups. The Shilluk people have lived on the banks of the White Nile, a tributary of the Nile River, for centuries. In the current conflict, which has often split along tribal lines, Upper Nile state, where Ding lives, has become a flashpoint for ethnic rivalries in South Sudan.

Ding reaches the main gate of the UN Mission in South Sudan’s “humanitarian hub.” Flashing her ID badge, she’s allowed to enter. She has spent much of the last year working with Internews, learning how to produce humanitarian information audio programs.

The Boom Box Talk Talk team provided a critical humanitarian information service to Internally Displaced People in South Sudan’s much contested Upper Nile State. Now, they’ve launched a radio station.

The Malakal Boom Box Talk Talk team. Courtesy of Jean-Luc Dushime.

Internews’ humanitarian information service, Boom Box Talk Talk, or BBTT as it is widely known, became an instant hit with people living in the POC site when it launched last July. It was a practical but innovative information solution in a place where the only previous radio station had been destroyed during the conflict, making information a scarce commodity. BBTT journalists produced a news program, then played it at designated stops within the POC site via boom boxes. Listeners learned about critical aid distribution and other news, all while going about their daily routines.

Boom Box Talk Talk soon became a two-way communication platform, as those living in the POC could share their concerns with the BBTT correspondents who would then inform the aid agencies and provide answers to community questions.

Now, the enormous success of the Malakal team’s efforts has allowed a new radio station to be set-up on the UNMISS base. Nile FM began broadcasting in March 2015, and extends critical information into the community beyond the barbed wire fence and UN-protected perimeter. Thousands of displaced people in camps and settlements along the Nile are now able to access vital information on humanitarian services — as well as much-welcomed music and community news.

Listeners tune in every morning to hear Ding as she begins the Good Morning Malakal show in Arabic: “Marhaba, muztamayin, wa marabin bikom fil barnamij! (Hello listeners, and welcome to the program!”)

A Nile FM reporter interviews the Vatican’s Papal Nuncio, on a visit to Malakal UN base.

Nile FM is putting the community back into community radio.

Ding exits the Nile FM studio booth to join her colleagues at the daily news meeting. Paulino Sebit, 23, is Nile FM’s news editor. He leads a meeting where all of Internews’ 11 community correspondents — a mixture of Shilluk, Nuer and Dinka — are present. It’s a multilingual team for a multilingual radio station.

“We all work together,” Sebit said. “There is no conflict between us.”

The Internews team in Malakal has produced some of the most informative and educational radio programs during the conflict in South Sudan. All of the correspondents live in the POC site and work there everyday, reporting on its residents’ daily activities to restore some semblance of their former lives.

Chanjwok Simon, 20, is the youngest reporter and newest member of the team at Nile FM. He was away from his family when the conflict broke out on December 15, 2013. By the time the fighting reached Malakal nine days later, he was already safe at the UNMISS base.

“I’m luckier than most who fled to the POC,” Simon said. “Now I want to help them rebuild their lives.”

The news meeting concludes and Ding shakes everyone’s hand before leaving.

“I want to become a better journalist,” she said. “When I see people in the media, I want to be like that. They’re doing a good job helping people by sharing stories.”

Published online @ Medium

At Mahim Junction in Mumbai, India interviewing two Canadian tourists on the Dharavi slum tour.

MUMBAI, India – ‘Slum tourism’ exists in many parts of the world and draws huge numbers of visitors, seeking to get a glimpse into the lives of the urban poor. But is it a modern version of a curiosity show or can it really help the community?

I put this story together while backpacking through India in early 2015.

This story aired on DW WorldLink June 12, 2015.

Day one of a two day training for community media in Nairobi, Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya – I believe in the power of community media to transform communities.

In my home country, due to the National Film Board of Canada’s Challenge for Change program from the 1960s to 80s, marginalized Canadians came together to speak truth to power through participatory filmmaking.

This tradition now continues in documentary film and on the community radio airwaves every day across Canada and around the world.

Today, social media is helping organize protests and spread information, but newspapers and, especially, radio still have the widest reach, making it the most relevant media to educate and inform marginalized communities.

Last year in Nairobi, I met with Kenyan community organizer and founder of the Shining Hope for Communities movement, Kennedy Odede.

The “Mayor of Kibera” as he’s referred to in the book A Path Appears, took me on a short tour of the SHOFCO office and its crowning achievement, the Kibera School for Girls.

A girl in Nairobi’s Mathare slum teaches me how to capture an image with her toy camera

A mirror in Kibera

On the walk, Kennedy handed me the latest copy of SHOFCO’s monthly Ghetto Mirror newspaper. On the cover was a picture of its new Mathare School for Girls, located in Kenya’s second largest slum.

I had become quite familiar with Mathare as my friend Wairimu Gitau started an online radio platform for youth called Mathare Radio. Just like Kennedy, Wairimu was born and raised in a Nairobi slum.

The two realize that community radio and newspapers are a way to empower citizens to make informed choices and contribute to development in their respective communities.

In A Path Appears, Kennedy’s story of how he founded SHOFCO is shared by authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: “He bought a cheap soccer ball and started a youth soccer club to unite young people, give them a purpose, and help them tackle local challenges…

Kennedy knew that he wanted not just a soccer club but a real movement, like the ones Mandela and King had led.”

Inside the Ghetto Mirror newsroom, Kennedy expressed the need and importance to train local journalists so they could better report on their community. I agreed.

My only condition was that we include Mathare Radio reporters so they could also benefit from any community media training.

Mathare Radio founder Wairimu Gitau

Wairimu helped plan the training, as she’s also a dedicated journalist and media trainer. We decided to hold day one in Kibera and day two in Mathare. This would make it easier for everyone no matter where they reside (as Kibera and Mathare are on opposite ends of Nairobi).

I think it’s important in media trainings to cover the basics of journalism, what I call “Journalism 101,” but then it’s important to put it into practice by taking trainees into the community to look for stories and speak to residents, or “Community 101.”

By covering both slums we’d be able to gain a better idea of the common goals these two communities share.

Radio with roots in Mathare

Wairimu developed the idea to start a radio station in Mathare around the time of the 2007-08 election violence in Kenya. A lack of accurate news and information in the slum led her to launch an online radio platform.

Her purpose: to give voice to voiceless youth.

Ghetto Mirror newspaper editor-in-chief Liz Mahiri

“I always knew I wanted to be a journalist. I felt the mainstream media wasn’t serving the Mathare community fairly enough,” Wairimu said.

She hopes to build a community movement, the likes of SHOFCO, which would include a radio station, a learning centre, and library for youth to find books on Kenyan and, more importantly, Pan-African history.

This is her goal. Mine is to support it. By developing the skills of reporters in the community, it can help empower others to share ideas on how best to make change, online or on-air.

During our afternoon reporting workshops, reporters pitched story ideas. The group decided to cover the most pressing issue: Kenya’s National Youth Service cleaning up Nairobi’s slums.

Equipped with pens, notebooks, an audio recorder and a video camera, we broke into three small groups to produce print, radio, video and photography for this community-focused story.

Trainees film a report on Kenya’s NYS clean-up of Kibera slum in Nairobi

Media ethics for all

The result was overwhelming as most residents in Kibera and Mathare were willing to speak on the need for improved sanitation and how NYS was helping out in that regard. Ghetto Mirror reporter Eunice Otieno raised an ethical dilemma she faces often while reporting on Kibera.

“What should I do when conducting interviews and someone asks for money?” the 29-year-old mother asked us trainers.

Our response was to explain to this person that as a journalist you must never, under any circumstances, pay sources. Ethically this is wrong. We told her and the other trainees they should explain to residents that as community reporters they have a responsibility to give voice to the community.

This means they must go around and find different residents to speak on each story. If some refuse or ask for money, then it’s best to thank them for their time and find someone else to interview.

To provide a forum for dialogue, we started a Facebook page called Community Reporters, where media mentors like Wairimu and myself can keep the conversation with community media in Kenya, and East Africa, going online.

I believe this training gave the reporters a better understanding of their journalistic responsibilities, and made them realize they are all a shining hope for the future of community media in Africa.

The Community Media training for Ghetto Mirror and Mathare Radio took place June 27–28, 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Published online @ Medium

Riak Akech learned how to record audio and conduct interviews.

JUBA, South Sudan – “I enjoy doing the radio program because it makes me feel like a journalist. I would like to learn more about journalism,” said 18-year-old Internews trainee, Riak Akech. “There are many things I don’t know. By talking to my elders at Mahad, I can learn so much more.”

Mahad is an Islamic primary school located behind a mosque on Konyo Konyo Road in the heart of Juba, South Sudan. The school’s administrator, Nur Kur Nyang, allowed displaced South Sudanese to settle on the school’s property over one year ago.

Most of Mahad’s displaced residents come from the restive states of Jonglei and Upper Nile, where much of the early fighting took place when the conflict between South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his former Vice President Riek Machar began on December 15, 2013.

Akech moved back to Juba earlier this year from Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp. Her family fled her home in Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan across the border to Kenya when fighting started.

She returned with her family six months ago and started working for Terre des Hommes, a non-governmental organization providing psychosocial support for the children in Mahad. This includes providing a Child Friendly Space, where kids living at Mahad are able to play games and learn in a safe and secure environment.

I taught Akech how to record audio and conduct interviews in the community. She learned so fast that by the end of the first week, we had an audio program ready to air for Mahad residents.

We called it My Mahad and episode one featured Nur Kur Nyang and others in the community talking about the history of settlement at Mahad.

“It was giving them voice,” Akech said. “It helped people by letting them talk about the issues they face.”

12-year-old Akur Mayen Kur is an aspiring singer. His angelic voice is featured at the beginning of the first two episodes. His insightful lyrics welcome people from around the world to Mahad, and call for peace in South Sudan.

Kur also helped out with recording messages of love and peace from Dinka women elders in Mahad. They were sending these messages to family and friends in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state. He also loves to listen to My Mahad on the community’s Freeplay Radio.

Each group at Mahad: Dinka, Anyuak and Murle, received a wind-up, solar-powered radio. I also gave one to the TDH-run child friendly space to play for kids, all eager to listen to My Mahad.

The youth in Mahad don’t have access to school. Only a lucky few are attending afternoon classes outside of the community. Most youth are left idle in Mahad with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

Mahad is almost entirely made up of women and children. Of the estimated 3,000 internally displaced people living here, over half are kids.

A Mahad youth peace group performs street theatre and marches through the community to educate and inform the women, and few men around, taking a break from the afternoon heat.

The Mahad youth group listens for the first time to their mini-drama in episode six.

In My Mahad episode six, a peace building drama performed by this youth group expresses the need to avoid tribalism in South Sudan and makes calls for reconciliation as well as an end to the current conflict.

Akech conducted dozens of interviews over the course of the month of June. It became a community-supported humanitarian information audio program that was played on the radios via SD card. Each episode was loaded on to SD cards and played at various collective points in Mahad.

The SD card with all the up-to-date episodes stayed with each radio, so it could be played continuously once we began recording the next episode. Once a new one was finished, we would reload on to each card.

Up to this point, Internews in South Sudan had only worked in Juba, Malakal and Bor UN protection-of-civilians sites to produce this kind of targeted programming. The Boda Boda Talk Talk program was started shortly after the conflict began.

At Mahad, a non-UN protected IDP settlement in the centre of Juba, we covered security, sanitation, education and health, all in the community’s three traditional languages (Dinka, Anyuak and Murle) including the two national languages (English and Arabic).

It was, at times, difficult, but we did our best to allow people to speak in any language they felt most comfortable with. This allowed us to record interviews with members from each group on different occasions.

During my time in Mahad I met a 19-year-old woman named Rimas with two young children from Nuba Mountains in Sudan. She was sharing accommodation with a Murle family.

A Murle family from Pibor, an administrative area in Jonglei, listens to episode four.

Rimas told me about her journey from Nuba to Juba, by foot, over two years ago.

Fleeing violence in Sudan, she made her way south via Bentiu, Unity state and Rumbek, Lakes state, only to discover more violence at each stop until she reached South Sudan’s capital city, Juba.

“There was fighting in Nuba, fighting in Bentiu and Rumbek. I came to Juba and the fighting started here,” she said.

Helen from Malakal, Upper Nile state shared with us a harrowing story of losing her husband and making her way to Juba with her children by boat along the Nile River, only to end up at Mahad which is only a short distance from the port of Juba.

Mahad is anything but a depressing place. The children are always playing and acting the way kids should act. The women are welcoming and always have a baby on their backs while cleaning, cooking or fetching water.

In fact, the organization that handed over camp management to the community last June, People in Need, told me an amazing story about how the community has risen to the challenge and completely taken over water distribution.

One South Sudanese pound (.10 cents) buys you a jerry can full of water. This money is then funneled back into the community.

Sanitation is still a big problem, as it is in most informal settlements, but the community is looking at ways to resolve this issue on its own.

Anyuak and Murle children playing at Mahad, featured in episode five.

The My Mahad episodes were recorded and played for each group in the Juba IDP settlement of Mahad throughout the month of June, 2015.

Published @ Internews in Focus

Mingkaman 100 FM health reporter, Rhoda Ateng, at Bor state hospital.

BOR, South Sudan – Rhoda Ateng enters the gate at the Bor state hospital carrying her backpack with a radio recorder and headphones inside. She passes a makeshift cholera treatment centre, situated near the hospital entrance.

Peace has returned to the restive capital of Jonglei state, but residents’ lives have yet to return to normal.

An elderly man enters the compound, after Ateng, with the aid of a walking stick. He approaches the entrance of the cholera treatment centre and lifts up his right foot. Two young men spray it, then the other foot, with chlorine to disinfect the bottom of his sandals. The man washes his hands with the same liquid concoction in a basin and is allowed to enter for treatment.

Ateng scribbles into her notebook. To date, 114 cases of cholera have been confirmed since June 15, 2015 in Jonglei state. One person has died as a result of the bacterial disease that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. An outbreak of cholera is usually caused by contaminated water.

“I worked as a nurse before the conflict reached Bor. I used to give people proper hygiene information. There are many preventable diseases in South Sudan, but people lack correct information,” Ateng said.

In July, Internews hired and trained three new Bor community radio correspondents for Mingkaman 100 FM. Thousands of Bor County residents fled across the Nile River to Mingkaman, Lakes state in December 2013, creating a humanitarian catastrophe.

“The crisis” as it’s known to South Sudanese, displaced hundreds of thousands when President Salva Kiir accused former Vice President Riak Machar of planning a coup d’état, the overthrow of the government in Juba. Fighting broke out between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar on December 15, 2013.

Ateng, 27, lived in Bor with her husband and two children. Once the fighting reached the Jonglei state capital, she fled to Mingkaman with her family, leaving her job and relatives behind.

“When the crisis came I ran, by foot, from Bor to my village 40 kilometres away. My family decided we would go to Mingkaman for safety, so we walked to the river and crossed by boat,” she said.

To meet the humanitarian information needs of displaced South Sudanese, Internews set up Mingkaman 100 FM. The radio station’s logo is a barge, a flat-bottomed boat used to ship cargo along the Nile River. But in this case it symbolizes the connection of Bor, Jonglei state to Mingkaman, Lakes state across the river.

“Rivers and boats bring news and information, so does Mingkaman 100 FM,” said Nigel Ballard, Internews project director for The Radio Community, a network of six radio stations in South Sudan.

Rhoda Ateng interviews a Ugandan market trader in Bor’s Marol market.

Ateng is Mingkaman FM’s health reporter in Bor. She returned to her hometown with her family last month. Mingkaman FM Bor bureau staff includes Peter Kuol, Chan Amol and Jacob Deng.

Kuol, 23, was born and raised in Bor town. His family returned from Mingkaman to Bor in December 2014, hearing that peace had been restored. Kuol waited to return since he was working as a child protection officer for Save the Children in Mingkaman.

“In South Sudan literacy is so low. The country has been at war for so many years,” Kuol said. “I want to educate the community to send their children to school. This will help South Sudan develop.”

Kuol is Mingkaman FM’s education reporter in Bor. He believes it’s the only tool worth investing in. That’s why he left his job in Mingkaman and returned to Bor. Over 70 percent of South Sudanese cannot read or write. This is one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world.

Radio can play a huge role in supporting a community’s education initiatives. Mingkaman 100 FM plays a critical role in educating the community on a range of issues including peace building, connecting displaced or lost family members, even where to locate services offered by humanitarian agencies.

Internews TRC Network Managing Editor, Chris Marol, went to Mingkaman in 2014 to see the humanitarian situation caused by the conflict. He saw a village turned into a bustling town, overflowing with displaced South Sudanese.

Marol knew immediately that Mingkaman would benefit from a radio station. He now sees Mingkaman FM serving the wider community by hiring new staff to report on Bor.

“Giving information on socio-economic issues, peace talks and peace dialogue can [allow] the community [to] build a peaceful coexistence,” Marol said. “Having radio where a community of listeners can discuss issues that matter to them most is another way of keeping people informed.”

Ateng exits the hospital and begins to walk back to the Mingkaman FM bureau office located near Bor town’s lively market. Traders have already returned to Bor to resume business.

“I need to stop by the market to check commodity prices. Many people are unable to afford basic food items due to the economic situation in the country. I need to cover this story for Mingkaman FM,” she said.

*Mingkaman 100 FM Bor bureau recently launched its first feature weekly radio program called “Panda Bor [Our Home] airing Saturdays.”

Majok Guet on-air at Mingkaman 100 FM.

MINGKAMAN, South Sudan – “It’s not about my tribe, it’s not about my cows,” sings Afro-Jazz musician Mer Ayang. “I’ve got lines, I’ve got dots, I’ve got marks on my face. Darling please don’t you see I’m a South Sudanese.”

The volume of the song reduces slowly over the radio. The voice of Mingkaman 100 FM host Majok Guet comes in: “Welcome to Mingkaman Together, a special program to ease community tension.”

Sept. 7, 2015, protesters claiming to be the original inhabitants of Awerial County were demanding jobs. The young men were upset that humanitarian agencies had South Sudanese working for them who come from neighbouring states and counties.

Mingkaman is 130 kilometres north of South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

The protesters stormed the gate at Mingkaman’s humanitarian hub, where Mingkaman 100 FM is based. The radio station manager, Joseph Ngor Deng, was attacked by the protesters.

“I was sitting at my desk when between 10 and 15 people came in and carried me outside the office,” Ngor Deng said. “They took the belt off my pants and began punching and kicking me.”

The protesters forced their way into the Mingkaman 100 FM studio, assaulting both the cleaning lady and Good Morning Mingkaman host, Achol Kur.

“I was forced out of the studio and beaten with a stick,” Kur said. “I received bruises and had to go to see a doctor. He prescribed me pain medication.”

Kur and Ngor Deng are now feeling much better. Both quickly returned to work at Mingkaman 100 FM, the community’s flagship radio station.

All throughout Mingkaman, radios are heard in almost every home and shop.

Guet’s voice comes through the speakers at Mingkaman’s bustling market: “Internally displaced people are South Sudanese who fled violence during the December 2013 conflict. The displaced people living in Mingkaman come from Duk, Twic East and Bor counties in Jonglei State.”

In January 2014, Mingkaman was a sleepy, little, village. Following the outbreak of violence in Jonglei state, 100,000 South Sudanese crossed the White Nile, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile River, into Lakes state.

Today, Mingkaman is a bustling town with markets, roads, community centres, health facilities, a new port and bank. Guet continues: “With the arrival of IDPs, humanitarian agencies have contributed to this development.”

According to protesters, the main reason behind the Sept. 7 attack on Mingkaman’s humanitarian hub and radio station, was because they fear displaced South Sudanese living in Mingkaman are receiving preferential treatment when it comes to obtaining work.

Protest leader, Wuol Abiar Wuol, apologized on-air for the assault on Mingkaman 100 FM staff. He went on to apologize to the community and humanitarian agencies for using violence to try to gain more jobs for those claiming to be “host community.”

Guet addressed the lingering questions posed by his listeners: “Who belongs to the host community? Is it those who have lived their entire life in Mingkaman? Or only those living here before the 2013 conflict – when IDPs started to arrive?”

These are not easy answers to find. Guet hopped on a motorbike and drove from the radio station to Mingkaman town centre. He approached men and women, old and young.

What he heard next surprised him. It turns out information from the humanitarian agencies is slim to none these days in Mingkaman. This is a drastic change from 2014, when IDPs settled into the sleepy village turned commercial hub.

Nuol Gak Ajak listens to Mingkaman 100 FM.

Nuol Gak Ajak, 52, is a father of seven who listens to Mingkaman 100 FM. He told Guet that more radio programs with targeted information from agencies is needed.

“This program brought us together. Mingkaman FM is the only source of information we have now,” Ajak said.

Rhoda Nyanyeth, 23, is a mother of two. She also listens to Mingkaman 100 FM.

“This program showed us that we must live together in a peaceful way. We must open our doors to interact with everyone around.”

Guet’s voice comes back in to sign off from the radio special Mingkaman Together. The sound of a strumming guitar comes over the radio speakers. Mer Ayang’s soulful voice returns: “I’m Warrap, Upper Nile, Jonglei, all the states. People please don’t you see, I’m a South Sudanese.”

*Due to feedback received from the community, Mingkaman Together is now a regular monthly program, creating a conversation between humanitarian agencies and the community, only on Mingkaman 100 FM.

April’s Nepal earthquake killed thousands. And made many vulnerable to exploitation. Adam Bemma at 6loc/7atl CBC R1 https://t.co/o5eDbxbl1h

— CBC WorldThisWeekend (@CBCTWTW) October 25, 2015

Loreto journalism club member interviews the school’s deputy principal.

RUMBEK, South Sudan – It’s eight a.m. Monday morning at Loreto Girls Secondary School, 10 kilometres north of the violence prone capital of Lakes state. The girls line up in four straight rows for their weekly assembly.

Two students march toward the flagpole and unfurl the South Sudan horizontal tricolor flag of black, red and green. They begin to sing the national anthem in unison. Some put a hand over their heart.

Loreto student Mary Jukudu holds an audio recorder in one hand with a pair of headphones covering her ears. She has a look of determination as she presses the record button.

The national anthem ends. Jukudu approaches Deputy Principal Nelson Kiarie.

“I’m here to ask you a few questions. My first question is about the journalism club at Loreto. How do you feel about it?”

Kiarie looks surprised. This interview is the result of a weekend of oral storytelling and radio journalism training conducted by Internews.

“I think it’s a very good idea that young people like you have an opportunity to express themselves,” Kiarie said. “This is where we get leaders. You learn how to communicate with the public.”

Jukudu thanked Kairie for the interview and moved along to Samuel Gitau, known as Loreto’s disciplinarian.

“Why do all students fear you?” she asked playfully. The assembly of students and teachers laughed and applauded her audacity.

Last year, Loreto student Aruai Kedit founded the journalism club. In 12 months, it has grown to include more than 50 students and is now one of the school’s largest clubs.

Members write stories ranging from early childhood marriage to the need for girl child education to inter-communal violence among Dinka clans in Rumbek. It will all soon be published in the school’s forthcoming magazine, aptly titled Rising Stars.

“It makes me happy to see other girls want to be journalists. I trained them how to edit their stories,” Kedit said.

Candacia Greeman is a teacher at Loreto Girls Secondary School. She supports the journalism club and wants to see these girls become confident young women.

“I believe that journalism allows youth, especially girls, to give voice to issues that concern them. It also builds their self-confidence and their ability to eloquently present an idea or story, “ she said.

Greeman invited Internews Multimedia Journalism Trainer Adam Bemma to work with the club after a few members expressed their interest in learning practical skills in radio journalism.

She hopes this three-day Internews training will help students learn how to eventually produce a radio science program specific to life in South Sudan, featuring Loreto’s primary school science club.

“The students have reported that they now understand how to conduct an interview. They are also aware of the ethics involved in journalism and the types of personal qualities they would need to develop to be effective journalists,” Greeman said.

Four of the Loreto journalism club’s most active members. All are aspiring journalists.

Plans for the Loreto journalism club, or “J-club,” to begin producing multimedia content, from audio to photos to online stories, began with this training. Members feel confident in their ability to tell stories and to share them digitally across multiple platforms.

“When Ms. Candacia said a journalist named Adam Bemma was coming to teach us something about journalism. I was like ‘let him come and we’ll see what he can teach us,’” Kedit said. “I’m very happy, I’ve learned many things. I hope he will come back again and teach us more.”

*Loreto J-club will soon receive Zoom H2N audio recorders from Internews to begin its radio science program, and to continue recording traditional and contemporary stories from elders and youth in-and-around Rumbek. All radio content created will be shared with Mingkaman 100 FM, also based in Lakes state, South Sudan.

Ayada Machok Kuerich is host of Healthy Living on Mingkaman 100 FM.

MINGKAMAN, South Sudan – “Thanks for tuning in. This is Healthy Living. I’m your host Ayada Machok Kuerich. This program focuses on mental health awareness. Stay tuned to Mingkaman 100 FM.”

On December 15, 2013, President Salva Kiir’s guards attacked former Vice President Riak Machar’s in the capital Juba claiming he was plotting to overthrow the government.

This ethnic conflict, pitting Kiir’s Dinka against Machar’s Nuer, quickly spread to Bor, Jonglei state, and other state capitals with key military outposts throughout the country.

The violence in Bor caused thousands of traumatized civilians to flee into the United Nations base, located outside of Bor town, and across the Nile River to Mingkaman, Lakes state.

This created a humanitarian crisis, as aid agencies helped meet the needs of these internally displaced people, or IDPs.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration, provides humanitarian assistance to displaced South Sudanese. One of its most popular programs focuses on mental health awareness.

IOM provides mental health and psychosocial support services at the UN protection-of-civilians site in Bor. Pauline Birot is IOM program manager in Bor and Bentiu.

“Creating mental health awareness is crucial in South Sudan. For instance, there is still much work to be done regarding stigmatization,” Birot said. “We need to get the conversation going on these issues. People have gone through a lot and are still dealing with much emotional distress.”

The population of Mingkaman ballooned to nearly 100,000 in 2014. The town is located 130 kms north of Juba. Mingkaman 100 FM was set up by Internews to meet the information needs of the town’s residents.

Aduk Chuol is a 22-year-old living displaced from her home in Duk County, Jonglei state. She lives in Mingkaman Site two.

Last October, Mingkaman 100 FM launched a mental health radio program called Healthy Living. This is the first of its kind on the airwaves in South Sudan.

“Welcome back to Healthy Living on Mingkaman 100 FM. I’m your host Ayada Machok Kuerich. Today, I want to explain where people can go to receive mental health treatment. Stay tuned.”

In South Sudan, radio is the most trusted source for news and information. With one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, the only true way to reach the majority of South Sudanese is via the public airwaves.

“Radio is a great media to work with because it can reach so many people.” Birot said. “It can help to address the stigma linked to mental disorders and provide information about how to care for oneself, one’s family members and one’s community as a whole.”

International Medical Corps, or IMC, is a U.S.-based humanitarian organization operating two health clinics for residents of Mingkaman. It has trained staff to conduct mental health check-ups.

Aduk Chuol is a 22-year-old living in Mingkaman site two. She comes from Duk County in Jonglei state. Chuol was displaced from her home and family back in 2013.

“My living situation stresses me. I live alone. My family is in Nimule [Eastern Equatoria state next to the border of Uganda],” Chuol said. “I can learn about how to deal with stress from the radio.”

Last week, Chuol was walking home from the Health Link clinic at Mingkaman market, where she works as a cook, and she spotted an elder in her community who was visibly intoxicated.

Chuol walks home from Mingkaman market to Site two every day. Along the way, she sees elders suffering from mental illness.

“Mental illness is a problem in our community. I know this man drinks alchohol and is addicted to drugs. I heard on the radio where to go for mental health services, so I asked him to visit the IMC clinic,” Chuol said. “The man refused, but I will keep trying to help him.”

Chuol is now a regular listener to Mingkaman 100 FM’s Healthy Living program. She enjoys hearing her favourite host, Ayada, discuss the causes of stress and trauma. Chuol also finds it useful to know where to go to seek psychosocial support and mental health counselling.

“That brings us to the end of Healthy Living. Tune in every Thursday at 9 p.m. to Mingkaman 100 FM as I raise awareness about mental health in the community. As Bob Marley once sang: ‘Don’t worry, ‘bout a thing. ‘Cause every little thing, gonna be alright.’ Thanks for listening.”

JUBA, South Sudan – Riak Akech wakes up to the sound of the muezzin call to prayer for all Muslims. She’s a Christian, but uses the call as an alarm clock in her small tukul, or hut, which she shares with her aunt and younger cousin. It’s constructed of bamboo and plastic sheets with a UN agency logo imprinted on it.

Akech, 19, lives in Mahad, a settlement of nearly 3,000 displaced South Sudanese coming from restive Jonglei state. Akech steps out at dawn with a bucket in hand to retrieve water from Mahad’s reservoir. Three shirtless children greet her as “teacher,” a title reserved for only those local youth trust.

“I’m happy that the kids respect me. I teach them not to get in trouble,” Akech said.

She’s not your typical teacher, as she hasn’t even finished primary school. But Akech has volunteered her time to work at Mahad’s child friendly space, teaching the youth the value of education.

“I enjoy spending time with the children,” Akech said. “I lived in [Kenya’s] Kakuma refugee camp until 2003, so I know how important it is to help young people living in this situation.”

If a child is sick in Mahad, and the mother can’t communicate in English or Arabic, Akech accompanies the family to the hospital and speaks to medical staff on her behalf. Akech speaks English, Arabic, Dinka and even some Murle.

Most people settled at Mahad, the Dinka, Anuak and Murle ethnic groups, come from different parts of multiethnic Jonglei. All are living in close proximity, on a small plot of land surrounding an Islamic primary school.

The school administrator, Nur Kur Nyang, originally allowed displaced people (IDPs) fleeing the December 2013 violence in Jonglei, to settle here. But word soon spread. South Sudanese from as far north as Upper Nile state started to arrive, surviving a perilous journey south along the Nile River.

Two years ago, a conflict between South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and his former deputy, Riak Machar, set off an ethnic killing spree in the capital Juba. The presidential guards, mainly from the Dinka ethnic group, turned against those from the Nuer ethnic group, said to be protecting Machar. This violence quickly spread to state capitals Bor, Malakal and Bentiu.

Sandy Riak and her friend listening to the messages on the child-friendly space’s Freeplay radio.

In early 2014, Internews set up a humanitarian information service called Boda Boda Talk Talk at the UN base in Juba, as well as a radio station in Mingkaman, Lakes state, where 100,000 IDPs arrived fleeing the conflict in Bor. Mingkaman 100 FM is a community radio station that now serves the wider region of eastern Lakes and western Jonglei states, providing not only humanitarian information but a wide range of news and current events programs.

17-year-old Mahad resident Sandy Riak comes from Bor. She wants to become a doctor, so she can help people by providing health care to those who need it most.

“Those in Bor, Jonglei state. God bless you. I want to join you. I’m greeting you my friends. I miss you my family,” Sandy Riak said in her first message from Mahad, recorded last July.

This message to family and friends in Bor gave Internews the idea to turn its work at Mahad from providing humanitarian information audio programs, a lifestyle series called My Mahad, into a radio service sending messages to loved ones in hopes to reunify families.

“The majority of people living at Mahad don’t have access to mobile phones or radios,” Akech said. “The main way people in Mahad receive information is by word of mouth.”

Akech was trained last June by Internews journalism trainer Adam Bemma on how to use an audio recorder and to interview Mahad residents. This led to six episodes of My Mahad being recorded in the community and aired, via SD card, to women and children on four Freeplay radios.

One wind-up, solar-powered, radio was given to each community leader in Mahad (Dinka, Anuak and Murle) including one for the children at the child friendly space.

“It is important to talk about peace in our community. We all need to teach our children about the importance of peace. If we are to have real peace, we must begin with children,” Sandy Riak said in her latest message from Mahad.

Messages from Mahad continues where My Mahad left off. It’s being aired every Saturday and Sunday on Mingkaman 100 FM. A new radio mast at Mingkaman 100 FM means its broadcasts reach from Lakes state across the Nile River deep into Jonglei state.

Riak Akech recording Akoi Mayen Kur’s message from Mahad to loved ones in Bor.

“I am in Mahad. I come from Bor. The fighting happened 24 December 2013 while I was there,” 12-year-old Akoi Mayen Kur said in his first message to family and friends. “We want to join our hands for peace. We are one nation and one people. We miss our home.”

Akech carries the audio recorder with her every day in Mahad. Displaced residents ask her to stop and record their messages for lost family members, hoping they will hear it and be reunited some day.

“People ask to hear their voices once I’ve recorded them, so I play it back. It makes them smile. Children laugh,” Akech said.

*Messages from Mahad began to air on Mingkaman 100 FM in November 2015. It aims to reunite families, via radio messaging, from Lakes and Jonglei states displaced by violence in South Sudan.

Without a doubt, Emma’s War by Deborah Scroggins is the most fascinating, easy-to-read, book about The Sudans.

Emma’s War: Love, Betrayal and Death in the Sudan by Deborah Scroggins

The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars (African Issues) by Douglas H. Johnson

South Sudan From Revolution to Independence by Matthew Arnold and Matthew LeRiche

The Fate of Sudan: The Origins and Consequences of a Flawed Peace Process by John Young

Sudan: Race, Religion, and Violence by Jok Madut Jok

A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan’s Bitter and Incomplete Divorce by James Copnall

The New Kings of Crude: China and India’s Global Struggle for Oil in Sudan by Luke Patey

South Sudan: A Slow Liberation by Edward Thomas

Sudan, South Sudan, and Darfur by Andrew S. Natsios

What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers.

Honourable mention goes to two novels which read like non-fiction; Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo; Seasons of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih. War of Visions by Francis M. Deng is an academic look at ethnic division in The Sudans, but a thought-provoking read nonetheless.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The civil war lasted 26 years. It cost the lives of an estimated 100,000 people and devastated the north and east of the island nation. In 2009, the government in Colombo made one last push against the Tamil Tigers rebel group.

The United Nations accuses both sides in the conflict of perpetrating war crimes, killing innocent civilians inside safe zones. This is the story of war widows and how the new government in Colombo seeks to make national reconciliation a priority.

MINGKAMAN, South Sudan – Twelve Mingkaman residents, ranging in age from 17-years-old to 43-years-young, came together for a three-week Internews South Sudan Young Reporters training.

All came to learn the basics of radio and photography at Mingkaman 100 FM in January 2016. This is a follow-up to the first South Sudan Young Reporters training last April in Malakal.

Sixteen South Sudanese youth living in the Malakal United Nations Protection-of-Civilians site were trained multimedia skills by Internews. Following the training, many found work at various aid agencies in Malakal’s humanitarian hub.

“This training is about learning. I want to learn how to make radio and take nice photographs,” said 22-year-old aspiring journalist, James Machok.

Mingkaman 100 FM is a pillar in the community. It’s the only source of news and information from Lakes to Jonglei state, across the Nile River. Its broadcasts reach some of the most remote communities on both sides of the Nile in South Sudan.

The Dec. 15, 2013 crisis reached Bor, capital of Jonglei state, a few days after fighting broke out in Juba. Bor residents fled the violence and arrived, by boat, to Mingkaman, Lakes state, at the time a village known for its relative calm and security.

A host community of Bahr el Ghazal Dinka in Awerial County welcomed Bor Dinka from Bor County, Jonglei state.

Nearly 70,000 displaced people arrived by January 2014, causing a humanitarian emergency. International aid agencies flocked to Mingkaman from Juba, trying to provide basic necessities for IDPs setting up temporary shelters all over Awerial County.

Internews set up Mingkaman 100 FM, an information lifeline for the community.

The village of Mingkaman soon became a restive town, where host community began to blame displaced people, or IDPs, for the lack of opportunity. This tension led to communal violence, as clashes over land and cattle happened with alarming frequency.

Last September, youth from host community protested outside the gates of Mingkaman’s humanitarian hub. They were demanding job opportunities from aid agencies, claiming IDP youth were being hired over them despite equal qualifications.

Mingkaman 100 FM became the target of their frustration. A dozen youth stormed the gates and pushed their way into the radio station, assaulting staff before realizing the error. Youth soon apologized, on-air, for their actions.

20-year-old Josephine Yar was born-and-raised in Awerial County. She is an outreach worker with ACTED, Mingkaman’s camp management agency.

“I remember when Mingkaman was a small village. Now it’s grown so much. I think it’s become one of the biggest towns in the country,” Yar said. “I hope all youth can put aside differences and work together to develop it further.”

Mingkaman now rivals Bor as one of the biggest towns in the region. It has a 130 km road network connecting it to the capital, Juba. There are markets, banks, and community centres, not to mention a thriving cultural scene including traditional music, dance and sport.

“Will we receive a sitting allowance?” Emmanuel Gai asked the first day of training. I informed all youth that this was no traditional training, like those provided by aid agencies in the past.

This would help develop their media skillset and make them more employable as a result. All twelve stuck around and learned to record radio and take photographs.

Mingkaman Young Reporters learn to use cameras.

“I want to learn more. This training taught us the basics of radio and visual storytelling,” said 22-year-old Mingkaman Young Reporter Isaiah Anguat.

To accommodate Mingkaman’s new Young Reporters, Mingkaman 100 FM will launch a weekly radio program in February, called Young Reporters.

The radio program will contain a mix of interviews, vox pops and live, on-air, presentation, with the help of Mingkaman 100 FM’s journalism trainer, to help improve skills further.

I know it’s a cliché to say, but I’m confident it will give voice to the voiceless youth. It seems the Mingkaman Young Reporters have a lot to share with the community.

A radio program in South Sudan helps displaced people communicate with their community and send messages to their loved ones.

Riak Akech in Juba, South Sudan wakes up to the sound of the muezzin call to prayer for all Muslims. She’s a Christian, but uses the call as an alarm clock in her small tukul (hut) that she shares with her aunt and younger cousin. The tukul is constructed of bamboo and plastic sheets with a UN agency logo imprinted on it.

KAMPALA, Uganda – February 18, 2016 was the presidential election in Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni extended his mandate beyond 30 years in power. But Ugandan youth want change. They are using indigenous language hip hop to express themselves and to avoid state censorship. This story aired on CBC The World This Weekend on Feb. 21, 2016.

Local youth learn media skills for community reconciliation

Achol Awar practices her interviewing skills with Rebecca Yar at Mingkaman 100 FM during the Young Reporters training.

Mingkaman, South Sudan – “I remember when Mingkaman was a small village. Now it’s grown so much. I think it’s become one of the biggest towns in the country,” said Josephine Yar, 20, who lives and works in Mingkaman. “I hope all youth can put aside differences and work together to develop it further.”

Yar was born-and-raised in Awerial County and is now working for ACTED, Mingkaman’s humanitarian camp management agency.

Before the conflict, Mingkaman was known for its relatively strategic location and bustling economic and cultural scene. It has a 130-kilometer road network connecting it to the country’s capital Juba. There are markets, banks, and community centers, not to mention a thriving cultural scene including traditional music, dance and sport.

After the conflict broke out in December 2013, people fled the violence in Bor, located across the Nile River in the neighboring Jonglei State, and converged upon the relatively calm and secure town of Mingkaman.

A host community of the northern Dinka ethnic group based in Awerial County welcomed fellow Dinka from Bor County, Jonglei state.

By January 2014, nearly 70,000 displaced people arrived, causing a humanitarian emergency. International aid agencies flocked to Mingkaman from Juba, trying to provide basic necessities for IDPs setting up temporary shelters all over Awerial County.

Internews set up Mingkaman 100 FM, an emergency radio station, which now acts as an information lifeline for the community.

Mingkaman Young Reporters go into the community to find stories and speak to residents.

The village of Mingkaman soon became a restive town, where the host community began to blame internally displaced people, or IDPs, for the lack of opportunity. This tension led to communal violence, as clashes over land and cattle occurred with alarming frequency.

In September 2014, angry youth from the local host community protested outside the gates of Mingkaman’s humanitarian hub, where humanitarian agencies base their local operations. They were demanding job opportunities from aid agencies, claiming displaced youth were being favored in recruitment processes despite equal qualifications.

Mingkaman 100 FM, located near the gate of the humanitarian hub, became the target of their frustration. A dozen youth stormed the gates and pushed their way into the radio station, assaulting staff before realizing the error. Youth apologized soon thereafter for their actions, even going on-air for the entire community to hear.

Internews and Mingkaman FM decided to capitalize on this rare, public demonstration of reconciliation to address some of the grievances and bring the community together. In addition to developing a weekly program devoted to reconciliation between the host and IDP communities, Internews is now offering specialized training for youth in basic radio and photography skills to continue the process of reconciliation through participatory media and storytelling.

In January and February 2015, 12 residents of Mingkaman, ranging in age from 17-years-old to 43-years-young, came together for a three-week South Sudan Young Reporters training supported by Internews.

“This training is about learning. I want to learn how to make radio and take nice photographs,” said 22-year-old aspiring journalist, James Machok.

Mingkaman Young Reporters practice framing in the radio station-turned classroom.

“Will we receive a sitting allowance?” Emmanuel Gai asked the first day of training. I informed all youth that this was not a traditional training, like those provided by aid agencies in the past.

This would help develop their media skillset and make them more employable as a result. All 12 stuck around and learned to record radio and take photographs.

“I want to learn more. This training taught us the basics of radio and visual storytelling,” said 22-year-old Mingkaman Young Reporter Isaiah Anguat.

Internews first conducted a South Sudan Young Reporters training last April in conjunction with community radio station Nile FM in the northeastern town of Malakal. There, 16 South Sudanese youth living in the United Nations Protection-of-Civilians (UN POC) site were trained in multimedia skills by Internews. Following the training, many found work at various aid agencies in Malakal’s humanitarian hub.

To accommodate Mingkaman’s new Young Reporters, Mingkaman 100 FM will launch a weekly radio program in February, called Young Reporters.

The radio program will contain a mix of interviews, vox pops and live, on-air, presentation, with the help of Mingkaman 100 FM’s journalism trainer, to help improve skills further.

Mingkaman 100 FM is a pillar in the community. It’s the only source of news and information from Lakes to Jonglei state, across the Nile River. Its broadcasts reach some of the most remote communities on both sides of the Nile in South Sudan. The Young Reporters program will give voice to the voiceless youth.

It seems the Mingkaman Young Reporters have a lot to share with the community.

An old African proverb says it takes a village to raise a child, but if you ask me, it takes a community to raise young reporters.

Adam Bemma is the Internews Journalism Trainer for Mingkaman FM, a community radio station based in Mingkaman, Awerial County, South Sudan. Mingkaman FM is part of The Radio Community, a network of community radio stations supported by the USAID-funded i-STREAM project (Strengthening a Free and Independent Media in South Sudan) and implemented by Internews, a media development organization.