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Behind the scenes with Adele Mostert, Communications Officer for ABC Ulwazi
Interview conducted by Johanna Zorn
> Can you explain in more detail what ABC Ulwazi does?
ABC Ulwazi is a radio training and production house with full NGO
(non-governmental organisation) status. We contribute to and support the
community radio sector of South Africa but we do not actually broadcast and we
do not fund anyone. I guess we see ourselves as a caring and supportive service
provider. Community radio stations in South Africa are quite diverse: Religious
stations/geographic communities/campus stations/communities of interest etc. We
offer training to contribute to the professionalisation of these volunteer
based stations as well as productions to diversify their programming schedule.
> What does community radio offer listeners in South Africa that isn't
available on other stations?
Loads! Community stations broadcast in the language of the region and in the
vernacular of the audience. It fulfills an educational and developmental
mandate for its listeners and community. It is uniquely positioned to provide
local content and coverage and community access to the airwaves. Community
stations foster dialogue in a way public and commercial broadcasters cannot in
the far flung corners of South Africa.
> What challenges have you faced while working to create community radio
there?
The community radio sector in South Africa is full of challenges! The
sustainability of stations is a big one. Finance and resource problems abound
... sometimes it's almost impossible to contact a station. The stations battle
with volunteerism and high staff turnover and the people trained by
organisations such as ours often move out of the community radio into
commercial outlets, thus community stations suffer from a constant "skills
loss." It's an uphill battle but the success stories are the reward. Many
stations are hugely successful and we feel proud when we've contributed to
this.
> Is the current South African administration supportive of your
efforts?
The government is very supportive of the work we (and others like us) do, but
do not resource / fund us as such. We have been commissioned by Government
Departments to produce professional programmes for them (e.g. we did some work
on the new Labour Legislation to make it real and useful for South Africans in
their own language etc.) So, yes, the value of the community radio sector and
those who work in it is recognized.
> What achievements have you been especially proud of?
We're proud of where we are in terms of how we've worked out a marriage of
production and training that ensures most programmes aren't just played and
ignored but used meaningfully, often translated, and adapted to local
circumstances by the broadcasters. Similarly we are proud of how many of our
trainees have excelled in their fields and grown into professional
broadcasters. For a small company (15 odd people) we've made a big impact:
we've been funded consistently and produced a substantial amount of quality
programming in the last few years.
Our productions have received recognition and won awards (One of our Living
History series, Sing Africa Sing, about the history of choral music, is a
finalist in the New York Festivals competition 2003).
In addition, our multilingual radio drama series, Rebuilding Civil Society is
something we've been very proud of. The series, produced in four languages so
far—English, Sesotho, Zulu and Xhosa—has been teaching millions of South
Africans about civil society, rights and responsibilities through soap opera
style drama episodes. On the other side of the coin, our series Sizoyi Chuna,
about community-based tourism, has taught a tremendous number of South Africans
how start up small businesses.
> How does The Last Voice fit into your mission? Why was it important to
tell the story of Elsie, the last speaker of the !Auni language?
Gosh, so many reasons...
In a nutshell, ABC Ulwazi is dedicated to preserving the heritage of our
diverse country. This has come to fruition through our Living History
programmes (you can see all this on our website too) whereby we capture oral
testimonials of South Africans about their lives and experiences, lest it be
lost forever. Because of the ravages of apartheid, so many stories have already
been lost. Stories like Elsie's need to be captured and eternalised, and we
take this very seriously. Another example is our history of jazz series
Ubuyile. Since recording the series, 5 of the contributors, great jazz
musicians in their own right, have died. Had we not been able to make that
series, their stories would have died with them.
> Is there a way that radio producers in the around the world can take
part in your efforts?
We've done a number of collaborations with BBC, Radio Netherlands, etc. in the
past and we're always open to this kind of thing. Similarly, people who'd like
to share their knowledge with us and with our network of radio stations are
welcome to get involved in training initiatives. We're very keen to meet
producers from all over the world and there's certainly scope for
collaboration!
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