Dear Friends,
Last fall, a letter
circulated asking for donations (funds and equipment) for Ghetto FM, a project
of the development nonprofit, SIDAREC (www.sidarec.org), which
works with youth and adults in depressed areas of Nairobi. Since
that time, Ghetto FM has been an invaluable ally of the peace process in
Kenya.
Below please note some of
their outstanding activities. Ghetto FM is still very much in need of funds, equipment, training, and
other resources in kind, in fact anything helpful to advance the
peace process. If anyone can donate, please contact George Onyango at
geogias@yahoo.com or george@sidarec.or.ke.
With greatest thanks and
all best wishes, Janet Feldman (KAIPPG International, kaippg@earthlink.net)
Ghetto FM (SIDAREC's radio project):
What we did is to
use Ghetto FM to gauge the mood of the people and at the same time asking
well-wishers to contribute. People have managed to contribute various items like
clothes and food, while SIDAREC has donated drugs and asked for help from
volunteer doctors for treating people.
We have been having peace meetings
within the affected slums. We have had them since the violence erupted. These
meetings have been successful because of Ghetto FM. Through the
station, we have been able to mobilize
assistance to the displaced,
coordinated meetings between various communities, and preached peace and
reconciliation.
What has excited me most is the fact that we have
our own people, from the areas where we operate, as presenters. These are people
who have never went to college to learn journalism. What we did is just to give
them an in-house training for a month, and that was it. Looking at some of the
programs that they came up with, one will be tempted to think you are dealing
with professionals. Therefore any support to help improve Ghetto FM will
be a boost to the youth working with the station.
In one meeting, we managed to bring in the
Provincial Administration. One of our suggestions to the Provincial
administration is to help integrate people. This means that any group who wants
assistance from the government
must show that other community members are
involved. In other words, it must show diversity.