17 year-old Esther Kalenga interviews her classmates about the conditions at her school in Mongu, Zambia.
Schools that work
What facilities and learning resources are necessary for a school to offer a quality education to its students? The World Cup in My Village youth journalists in Mongu, Zambia took this question head-on, and considered the good, the bad, and the ugly at their school.
“I feel that we don’t really have facilities to help us learn effectively,” says Grade 11 student Steven Sianga. Schools are not just about students and teachers, he says. They’re also about having suitable facilities and learning resources like textbooks and computer labs that function.
“Teachers are there to take us through, to make us pass,” says 18 year-old Lawrence Mulope. “The materials are in teachers.”
“Some pupils are interested in certain subjects like IT, but here at this school, there’s no class for taking IT,” says a classmate at St. John’s Senior Secondary School. “And the computers there, it’s like they are there for decoration only, and there’s not enough for the pupils to benefit from.”
Listen to the full radio debate, or download the file as an mp3 for broadcast.
To what degree do teachers play a role in a child’s performance at school? Are teachers the key ingredient in a school’s success or failure?
Many of the students at St. Johns Senior Secondary School in Mongu, Zambia credit their triumphs to the hard work of some of the teachers in their school. “They want to make sure that their schools are representing, that the pupils are able to make it,” says 17 year-old Richard Mufaya, noting that a few teachers have made an incredible impact on his life and his studies.
But while some teachers help students to motivate themselves, others don’t seem to care enough about their well-being. “Some of our teachers are teaching so just that at of the end of the month they will be paid,” says Esther Kalenga.
Listen to the full radio debate, or download the file as an mp3 for broadcast.
Ghana vs. USA Match: June 26, 2010
Youth journalist Chipo Shangoma describes the atmosphere at the screening of the Ghana vs. USA World Cup match in Mongu, Zambia.
The World Cup in My Village youth journalists held a radio discussion to debate the reasons that young Zambians struggle at school. Malnutrition kept many students back, they argued, and contributed to poor performance in the classroom.
“Children don’t learn because they are hungry,” argued 14 year-old Inonge Sitali. “When you’re hungry you can’t concentrate on school.
Listen to the full radio debate, or download the file as an mp3 for broadcast.
Children get ready for the screenings of the Ghana vs. USA match as part of World Cup in My Village in Mongu, Zambia
1GOAL: Education for all
produced by Saboi Kezman (17)
The World Cup in My Village youth journalists held a radio discussion to debate the reasons that young Zambians drop out of school.
Tambudzai Mutale said that children quit school in order to work and to support their families, and also argued that teenage pregnancy plays a major role.
Distance from educational facilities, many of the youth journalists argue, is the primary reason that young Zambians drop out of school.
“You’ll find schools are very far from where the people stay. It’s because of the distance or because of floods that make children stop going to school,” says 17 year-old Sebbe Phiri.
Listen to the full radio debate, or download the file as an mp3 for broadcast.
The Children’s Radio Foundation has been working with UNICEF and community organizations on a project called World Cup in My Village. The project takes place throughout the World Cup, and gives young people access to watch the World Cup matches in areas where there is little access to electricity and television. Through using huge inflatable screens and projectors and generators, young people in Zambia and Rwanda have been taking in World Cup games in the great outdoors in their communities, and getting the chance to experience a slice of the action.
As part of World Cup in My Village, we trained groups of young people in each country as youth journalists, giving them the tools and the skills to tell their own stories, and to report on pressing issues affecting young people in their communities.
Today we hear some of their stories. Let’s take a listen to what some youth reporters in Mongu, western Zambia had to say.
To find out more about World Cup in My Village, click here.
Welcome to the Show!
Radio Workshop host Mbali Vilakazi welcomes listeners to the show.
The Radio Workshop broadcasts every Saturday at 12 noon on SAfm. If you live in South Africa, you can listen live on air. Tune your radio to a frequency between 104 to 107FM to find SAfm.
Soccer is everyone’s game
For fourteen year-old Inonge Sitali, a radio dialogue with her peers about the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an opportunity for her to talk about gender issues in her local community of Mongu in western Zambia. “I disagree with the guys out there who are saying that football can not be played by girls,” Inonge says.
“It only needs concentration, and also discipline and skill, not just because they are males they are the only ones who can play football. We all have the right to play any sport.”
To find out more about World Cup in My Village, click here.
HIV/AIDS in our community
The World Cup in my Village youth reporters in Zambia don’t just cover the world cup. They can discuss anything they think is relevant, interview community leaders, teachers, and even each other—whatever it takes to address topics they consider to be important. One of the main issues they wanted to talk about what relationships, sex, and HIV/AIDS, and these discussions often led to some very heated debates.
To find out more about World Cup in My Village, click here.
My town: Mongu, Zambia
The town of Mongu is located in a rural area in western Zambia, close to the border with Angola, and not all that far from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s the heart of Zambia’s only kingdom—the Lozi kingdom. Mongu is about eight hours drive from the capital of Zambia, Lusaka, and is situated on the flood plain of the Zambezi River.
Every year in about March or April, the heavy rains come and the Zambezi floods for kilometers and kilometers, forcing the local Lozi people to head to nearby dry land.
The Mongu youth reporters are proud of their area, but they also see why many young people leave the Lozi kingdom for the big city of Lusaka.
Mildred Tebuho discusses what it is like to be a young person living in Mongu, Zambia.
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Do condoms contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS? That was the topic up for discussion by the World Cup in My Village youth media team in Mongu, Zambia.
“People know that condoms protect, but what if that condom breaks?” says 18 year old Mildred Thebuho.
“The best way to prevent yourself from HIV/AIDS is to abstain or to be faithful,” says Tambudzai Mutale (17).
Listen to the full radio debate, or download the file as an mp3 for broadcast.
To find out more about World Cup in My Village, click here.
18 year-old Pedrou Kakorio and 14 year-old Inonge Sitali
For fourteen year-old Inonge Sitali, a radio dialogue with her peers about the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an opportunity for her to talk about gender issues in her local community of Mongu in western Zambia.
“I disagree with the guys out there who are saying that football can not be played by girls,” Inonge says. “It only needs concentration, and also discipline and skill, not just because they are males they are the only ones who can play football. We all have the right to play any sport.”
Some of the boys and girls in the group are on her side, but others are not so convinced. “Football is a very hard sport, and it requires maximum power to perform, so girls are not suitable to play it,” says eighteen year-old Pedrou Kakorio.
Click below to listen to the conversation.
Both Pedrou and Inonge were trained as youth journalists as part of World Cup in my Village, a project of UNICEF, the Children’s Radio Foundation, and other community partners. Using audio recorders, cameras, and flip video cameras, young people in Mongu, Zambia and Rubavu District in Rwanda have been given the tools and the skills to tell their own stories.
The project gives them the opportunity to report on pressing issues affecting young people in their communities, and to share their experiences and concerns with the rest of the world. Their audio reports will be broadcast on local, national, and international radio stations, and additional media content will be posted on the Children’s Radio Foundation’s website and disseminated via other social media platforms.
In addition to media trainings, World Cup in My Village will provide access to the World Cup matches to youth in areas of Zambia and Rwanda where there is little to no electricity or broadcasting service. Large open-air screens and projectors have been set-up and the matches will be screened from 11 June to 11 July. In addition to the football matches, special public service announcements produced by UNICEF and partners will provide the audience—largely cut off from mainstream sources of information—with information about education, health and child protection.
The public viewing spaces will also be used for community events such as youth soccer games and educational activities on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. During the halftimes of the World Cup matches, the trained youth journalists will conduct interviews with their peers and host live radio talk shows to sensitize fellow youth about community issues.
Mubanga Chimywembe (17), Mutukwa Masinda (12), and Kezman Saboi (17)
17 year-old Mubanga Chimywembe says that radio is a great way to reach out to youth in her area, and that she wants to use her new skills to inspire them to listen and to act. “I want to change the youth out there in Zambia, so they become better citizens in the future.”
Mubanga plans to organize radio debates about HIV/AIDS with other young Zambians in her region during World Cup in My Village, and to encourage them to go for voluntary counseling and testing. “As youth, let us work hand in hand and unite for whatever action that we take,” she says. “Let’s not just bring up anything without action—they said that anything said without an action is dead.”
