Hellen "Shiko" Wanjiku: A journalist who wants to give voice to the voiceless in Kenya

©Nils Lundgren+46730398823.Photo, sound and edit.
Hellen "Shiko" Wanjiku was one of ten young kenyan enthusiasts in Korogochos slum in Nairobi, Kenya, who started community radio station Koch FM.
She like the rest of the group wanted to create a forum for people's problems in the slums.

The ten youth who started Koch fm didn't have any media training, only three of us were studying journalism at that particular time. The rest
have undergone capacity building on journalism skills.

They started the radio because they got tired of the negative publicity they were getting from main stream media and at the same time to highlight
issues affecting the people in Korogocho, a slum area in Nairobi. All felt the need to respond to and express how they felt the constant abuse of human rights in the area. Abuse of robbery, crime, people who were killed for nothing, young women who were forced to marry. Abuses that destroyed people's morality.
First, the group´s intent was to produce films, to make and show DVDs at arranged meetings in Korojochos slums, but they soon realized that radio is a better medium.

- the radios are cheap, owned by the majority, they are constantly listening on the radio, radio reaches many people, even people who are admitted to work can also listen to the message of the radio, says Hellen Wanjiku. But the Kenyan authorities did not at first allow them to broadcast.

Radio stations hate messages on ethnic cleansing during the Rwandan genocide was still fresh in memory. Something similar would not be allowed to happen in Kenya. The group anyway started Koch FM radio, an editorial board was set up in a metal shipping container. The police came and put big locks on the doors to stop Koch FM radio. But the locks were broken up by the group,
and the police came back with new locks. The group behind Koch FM radio realized that they must change their tactics. Three people from the KOch FM radio group managed to be invited to negotiations with the police. Instead of three there were five hundred people to the place of the hearing, to show their support for Koch FM radio. The station was licensed to broadcast in a radius of 2 km, but thanks to an extra-high antenna Koch FM radio reached in a radius of 12 kilometers. After a program Koch FM could get 100 text messages with comments and requests from listeners. Hellen Wanjikustarts starts laughing for joy over the success when she says that over 300 000 listeners tuned in Koch FM radio .

- The secret of success is about Koch FM radio carries a "Humanitarian journalism," which focuses on concrete social issues, such as lack of medical care. It is a journalism that affirms that people come together to bring about change, but for it to be partisan to politics of parties, "she says. Currently live Today Hellen Wanjiku lives with her ​​Swedish husband in Älvsjö, a suborb to Stockholm, but she is still working with Koch FM radio as an advisor. All ten of the group is still at work but now with steady jobs and income.

Hellen Wanjiku: Radio Koch FM gives voice to the voiceless in Kenya´s slum (1.43G)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RXIj_Ur2Pk

Jessica Gustafsson: The role alternative media plays in a globalized world. (1.15G)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opx2pFj6DmU

©Nils Lundgren. Photo,sound, edit.

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