Strengthening our partnership with Radio Grahamstown

This week, Annie and I worked on strengthening our audio production partnership project by consolidating a set of agreements with  Radio Grahamstown.  This included the allocation of air time to the show, and the identification of a producer and anchor from the station’s volunteer team. We met with the Station Manager, Phumlani Wayi, to talk through these agreements, and in this way laid down another building block  for the project. By the time of our second workshop, which took place on Thursday afternoon, we felt ready to start building on these foundations.  The Radio Grahamstown producer and anchor  were present, and it seemed to us that all we had to do now was to encourage the team to start planning the show and honing their production skills. Things did not, however, begin smoothly in the workshop. Let me take you back two days before this workshop:

Introductory workshop with UMthathi facilitators

On Friday 11 March, Annie and I conducted our introductory workshop with the Umthathi facilitators.  The aim was, firstly, to foster a stronger relationship with the facilitators, by getting to know them better.  Secondly, we aimed to establish a shared vision for the project, informed by clear understanding of everyone’s roles. Thirdly, we hoped to set the ball rolling with regards to the process of generating ideas for content to include in the show. Our primary aim for this workshop though, was to draw out themes which would be covered in the gardening and healthy living radio show.

UMthathi's "Masilimeni Day"

On Friday, 4 March Annie and I attended Umthathi’s Masilimeni Day, which was held at the NGO’s headquarters in Extension 7. This was an educational day, where the facilitators of Umthathi  conducted presentations at different ‘gardening stations’, on how to create a certain kind of garden, and how to plant in that particular garden. The presentations included talks such as how to build and plant in a ‘tower garden’, which is usually built in dry environments which have little fertile soil. Some of the most interesting presentations of the day included a talk on: how to plant organic vegetables properly; how to create one’s own solar cooker, and a talk on traditional plants.

Zolani Zondani, UMthathi Africulture nurseyman