Introduction:
The Tanzania Media Foundation’s
2015-2018 strategic plan, centres on Strengthening
Media for Accountability, of which two of its basic objectives are
concerned with increasing the professional capacity of media organisations and
stakeholders as well as the quality and diversity of investigative and public
interest journalism products in the media sector.
As part of its commitment to
transparency and impartiality, creativity and innovation, quality and learning,
TMF has a mentoring programme which gives people the opportunity to share their
professional and personal skills and experiences and to grow and develop in the
process. It is a relationship based on encouragement, mutual trust, respect and
a willingness to learn and share. The overall objective is to link TMF grantees
to media experts/specialists so that the latter group can pass on their
knowledge, skills and competences to the former group.
It is under this commitment that UNESCO and TMF
commissioned me to represent them in mentoring local radio staff to help them increase
the professional capacity as well as the quality, quantity and diversity of
investigative and public interest journalism products.
Under the mentorship programme,
UNESCO/TMF assigned me to mentor on its behalf FIVE community radios. Three in
Zanzibar -Mtegani
FM, Tumbatu FM Radio in Tumbatu Island and Zenj FM and two in Pemba -Mkoani FM radio in the North, Micheweni FM radio in
the South.
It was a learning experience for
both the staff at the radio stations and myself. I wrote down some of my
experiences to give an overview of the situation on the ground - with a light
touch.
Mtegani FM:
I
arrive and take off my shoes. By now I have realised that in FM stations you
work barefoot. I enter and find all the staff seated on the floor and a lonely
chair has been placed there for me. Because I need to create rapport,
communicate and engage, I decline the chair and sit on the floor.
The
introductions start. There are ten people, each speaking at length and at a
pace that makes me want to tell them to edit themselves but dare not as this is
bonding stage. When anyone expounds the advantages of sitting on the floor, please
consider the age factor and the length of time in doing so because by the time
it is my turn to introduce myself, my back is screaming. So I push myself up on
my knees but the floor is too hard and am forced to sit down again but instead
of stretching my legs as before, I pull them and wrap my arms around my knees
and inform who I am and why I am there. My request for questions yields no responses
and so I get into Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance. The silence
and blank faces do not deter me and I move on to ask what they know about
programme making and formats. Again I draw a blank. This means an energizer is
needed so I ask them to stand up and I inform them we will be travelling to
different destinations with an item. For example, I give Rose letter M. She
will say I’m travelling to Malawi and I will be carrying Mangoes, etc.
I
ask a staff member to start me off with a letter and he says F. So I say I will
travel to Finland and carry Fanta. I point to anotherand I tell him M. He says
Mombasa, I say you need to name a country, he says Mogadishu, I say country, he
says Morogoro. We are now laughing. So I give him Mali and ask him what he will
travel with and he says, ‘aah basi nitachukua
Mali zangu nisafiri nazo’. We laugh and we sit.
I
go back to producing a magazine. And one informs me, ‘ticha hiyo mbona unatuacha yaani majadiliano, nyimbo na eti sauti za
gari au pikipiki yote pamoja, ticha hebu anza tena’. I look at the
expectant faces and Haleeeeluya! I get inspired and ask them whether they like
Pilau. I get nods and grins. And so I ask what ingredients are needed and the
replies come in fast, ‘mchele, maji,
viungo, mbatata, saumu, vitunguu maji’. I ask whether we put all these in
one go and with heads shaking one informs me that, ‘unaanza kwa kutayarisha mahitaji yako halafu ndo unaanza kupika na kuweka
kimoja na kingine hadi vyote, mwisho mchele na unamalizia na maji kwa kipimo.’
Great I say, and that is what a radio magazine is, you choose a topic, you plan
how you will do it and what you will put in it one after
the other with your script leading the way until you have it all together,
enjoyable to your listeners as it was to you in the preparation. And one says
it all, ‘kwa hiyo ticha, unaa maana makala
yako unaweka vikoromebwezo, yaani unaifanya tamu kama pilau.’
They’ve
got, that’s what I’d like to believe. I dare not think whether they’ll do it.
Mkoani FM:
Arriving
at the radio station was a relief after being in a car for an hour and a half.
And because the chairman of the radio station’s governing board had heard me
during my broadcasting days he had told the staff that I’m a well-known radio personality
and they should all be present to welcome me.
What a pleasant surprise. The rest was not.
The
introductions over and into Transparancy Accountability and Good Governance and,
‘ticha samahani, hapo juu sana, shuka kidogo’.I
think I’m being asked to lower the presentation only to be corrected, ‘hiyooo uwazi, uwajibikaji na utawala bora,
hebuu tuelezee tena ni vipii’ I get it, they don’t have a clue. I take as a
example their radio station and how it will work better if these three are
taken into account and then move to the bigger picture to relate to issues of
the provision of health services, education, their environment and gender
equality.Then, ‘yaaani tuangalie vitu vinavyofanyika
na tutangaze ili watu waandamane kama haviendi sawa’ Not like that but
nearly there. But before I go further,
the chair, who is a retired teacher, stands up to explain - try training with
the Chair of the governing board asking most of the questions and constantly
intervening. I was patient and the fact he was there every day, means no one
should ever say I’m impatient.
I
ask for the ladies. As I’m about to put on my shoes I’m informed that I will
find sandals in the toilet. I’m directed to a door that has a piece of cloth as
its handle. Untying the cloth I walk into this dark room and see the sandals
just at the door. I put on these blue-brown sandals, the brown denoting the
accumulated dust while blue is the original colour. I avoid thinking of who has
worn them and hitch my dress and go backwards to a hole. Holes
belonged to my village days – I’ve been proved wrong. I manage to position
myself and I go down, oooh my knees – cursing is bad and so instead I call out
to UNESCO and TMF. I finally slowly stand up with my knees cracking ...oooh!. I
go out, latch back the door and head for my water bottle. As I wash my hands I
know I won’t drink the water as it will remind me of that place and also make
me go there again. Once is enough.
I
return to the room and before going in to the next session ask them to stand up
for an energizer. I ask them to mention four regions in the mainland. With confusions
of the regions and towns we finally get Dodoma, Arusha, Mwanza and Dar es
Salaam. So I go showing, head, shoulders, knees and toes and tell them these
will correspond with Dodoma, Arusha, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam. I tell them that
one of the traits of a good journalist is listening. I get nods and the smiles.
I start off with Dar es Salaam and they all put their hands on their head,
because I had done so, I tell them they should listen because Dar es Salaam
corresponded with their toes. They laugh and I go in the right order and touch
my toes and say Dodoma. Few bend some are undecided, none get it right. We
laugh and sit for the next session – Investigative Journalism. ‘Ehe ticha, ndio habari za uchokonozi sio?’
asks one
Great!
Understanding at the first go - things can only get better. The key is to be Optimistic.
Tumbatu FM:
I
walk into the sea to get into the boat.
My height is such that before I even reach the boat I am wet. I mean wet….wet
into my body parts. By the time I enter the boat I’m dripping wet. I sit and
get out my lemon. I’m allergic to movement while on the sea and I’ve been
authoritatively informed that squeezing the lemon and smelling it will keep my
food in its place. After thirty nerve wrecking minutes with the lemon stuck to
my nose I cross over to the other side. And there again, I get into the sea and
get wetter. I put my lemon back for the return journey and sit down to put on
my shoes. I head inland and people are looking at me. Surely, I think, they
can’t believe I have peed myself,afterall I’m wet up to my waist. I reach the
district office and meet my mentees. What a way to introduce oneself, but hey,
I am there and so let us begin, at least the dripping had stopped.
We
get into class and we get started. We introduce ourselves. But the salt….it is
disturbing. It is in areas that should not be having salt and so I get creative.
I sit and stand and walk about talking about journalism and their role. But I
get no relief. I then ask for the ladies, and in there I find no water. I go
out to ask for water and am told there is no water on that day. I was once told
if you ignore pain it goes away. I did that and continued with Transparency,
Accountability and Good Governance. I then ask them to stand up and so as to
shake my body and stop the itching, I ask them to repeat after me, ‘ I have a
ball, I put it here, I pepeta’ and I urge them to pepeta. They enjoy that but
it has not helped me. I ask them to sit.
I
go into Investigative Journalism and there I got into my creativity mode again
– walking, sitting and standing. Walking round, I engage and encourage them to
be curious, to know what is happening around them and in the world, for
example, which great leader has died over the weekend? And I get blank faces, I
say, think. And finally someone says, ‘kuna yule babu mwenye madevu kafaaa’
andI ask what is his name and where has that happened and the answer is,
‘aaah hilo sijui lakini wamtaja saana’. I’m supposed to be patient and as I was
thinking how much of that one needs, the electricity takes a break and I’m
told, ‘ndio haurudi tena mpaka saa kumi na
mbili.’
There
is a God. I pack, and then I remember, I have to get into the sea to return.
Tumbatu FM.
