Me, Alex and Chris have been away for two weeks, which means we have not been around for the past two shows at Radio Grahamstown. This was not a problem because we had made arrangements with Xoliswa and Thenjiwe before we left for the holidays. When we got back last week, we met with the uMthathi people on Tuesday for our regular update. It would seem that some things went well in our absence, while others could have gone better.
Upon arrival at the meeting, we were told that Xoliswa was not there because she is sick. Sicelo was there, however, and we sat down and asked him how the past two shows had gone. Sicelo told us that they only did one show while we were not around because they did not go on air on Friday of the Easter weekend. I personally did not have a problem with them not doing the show since it was a holiday. This, however, is not what we agreed on in our last meeting. We (Thenjiwe, Xoliswa and students) agreed on that they were going to do two shows while we were away. It would seem, then, that there are still some foundational principles to sort out, with regards to the management of the project!
What I liked, though, is the fact that the uMthathi people called Thenjiwe and told her that they were not coming for the show because they were going to church. I think it is brilliant that they kept communication going; that they did not keep quiet but knew that they had to let Thenjiwe know. I asked Thenjiwe what she said to the listeners with regards to the Masakhane slot that Friday, and she told me that she carried on with her show and told the listeners that due to the holiday they will not have the Masakhane show but they must tune in the following week. I think this was good too. It shows that this partnership is between us, students, Xoliswa and Radio Grahamstown (Thenjiwe in this case). We are together in this; it is not just students but a partnership where all of us should take responsibility. We all should know what to do and when to do it.
Thenjiwe also told us, however, that on the Friday before last she thought the people from uMthathi were not coming because Sicelo arrived late for the show. Upon Sicelo’s arrival, they carried on and did the show even so. I think that Xoliswa’s absence is one of the reasons why this happened. Firstly because she is the one who always make sure that everyone arrives on time, and secondly because I think Sicelo is busy taking care of many things now that Xoliswa is not there. Nonetheless the show still continued which I think is good because they did not let it go because of Sicelo’s lateness, Thenjiwe managed to cover for it.
On a different note, last Friday we had the Masakhane show and Thenjiwe hosted it. While sitting and waiting patiently for the show to start, I observed that she was not alone in the studio but co-hosting the Masabelane show with someone else. She however did the Masakhane slot alone. Lakhanya Tata Thembani and Sicelo Dyirha were the two studio guests, and the topic that they discussed was “home remedies”. Lakhanya is a specialist in the field, she was on maternity leave but she kindly agreed to come and be one of the guests. She was good, the discussion and everything ran smoothly and they were enjoying themselves in the studio. As a result the co-host who has been quiet for the most part of the show started asking questions towards the end. These were questions that were prompted by what Lakhanya was educating people about. There was a lot of laughter and fun that broke out from the studio discussion; and this provided the show with a lively and warm feel.
The main reason I think this worked well is because Lakhanya talked about things that happen in our daily lives, the examples that she made were of things that happen every day and that people from the community are also familiar with. I gathered that Lakhanya tried as much as she can to be at the same level as the listeners, she wanted to keep them listening by referring to some of the stuff that they are familiar with. She also gave funny examples, about how people mix together Savlon, Colgate and Handy-Andy to heal the wound. Everyone in the studio laughed and I as a person who was outside the studio laughed too because I was like “yeah that really does not make sense but people do it anyway”. She made the topic interesting, informative and educational at the same time. The examples she gave made the topic light, and the things she said easy to grasp.
On our side (as students) we have found music for the jingle and we have told Sicelo that by our next meeting we are going to ask the Umthathi team to comment on this. We need them to tell us what they would like the jingle to say, and how they want it to sound. We also need to ask some of them to record whatever we (students and the uMthathi) agree on.
That is how things are up to now, and we are still patiently and excitedly going forward.
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