[Imc-africa] Update from Nairobi

[andy gunn]

hi john, thanks very much for the update.  i am excited to hear that the people
coming from maseno are planning on setting up the community radio setup team.  i
will start thinking of how to tailor a few of the workshops to best help them.
in reality, i hope that the people who come to the convergence and participate
in the workshops end up determining what the most important areas to focus on
are.  focusing on what the important aspects of community radio are, specific to
kenya, will really help us all.
-a


John Bwakali wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
>   Visa letters: I am in touch with Oloo about this and intend to try and see if you can receive the invitation letters this week so that you can start making any relevant arrangements. I just talked with him a while ago and we agreed to try and meet tomorrow to follow up on the same.
>    
>   Accomodation: The WSF will be held at Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani, about 10 kilometres from the city centre of Nairobi. On friday last week, I visited the WSF secretariat here and established that most activities will take place at Kasarani. As such, the guest house that I had in mind at Lavington will be a bit far from Kasarani and I have thus identified another one that is about 10 minutes drive from Kasarani itself. The proprietor of this guesthouse is a company known as Reed International whose Director is Allan Busula. I have a meeting with them today (sunday) in the evening and will send you a full update about the meeting tomorrow. Given the fact that a lot of people will be looking for accomodation near the WSF venue, I think that once I agree with Reed International, we should proceed to secure the guesthouse soonest possible. I will send you the full address and photos of the house before the end of this week. 
>   
> Transport: If we secure the guesthouse that is near the WSF venue, then people should be able to walk for about 20 - 30 mins to the venue. Otherwise we can also arrange for a small vehicle to be on standby at the guesthouse to transport people to the city centre, Kibera and any other place within Nairobi.
>    
>   Radio Frequency in Nairobi: Last week I was in a meeting with Riruta Environment Group, an organisation here in Nairobi that sought for a radio frequency to operate here in Nairobi but they were informed that Nairobi is for now saturated, so they had to opt for Kitale, a smaller town about 300 kilimeters west of Nairobi. I have however established that there is a new community radio station in Kibera known as Ghetto FM and another one in Korogocho (another ghetto about 10 mins drive from WSF venue) known as Miss Koch FM. If we want to go on air in Nairobi 'legally', then we might want to talk to these radio stations and strike some sort of partnership. Reed International has made it clear that they wouldn't want to get into trouble with the government because an 'illegal' radio is being operated in their premises (the guesthouse).
>    
>   Permanent Radio Station in Maseno: Last friday, I had a meeting with Felix (the tech radio person from Maseno) and he informed me that things are on course in Maseno. They are even already putting up the building that will house the radio station. I have requested him to send a full update to all of you. We arranged for a group of ten students and lecturers to stay with other Indymedia people in Nairobi and partake in all our activities in Nairobi. The long term strategy for the Maseno team to then assist in setting up other community radio projects in other parts of Kenya.
>    
>   Working groups: We are already setting up working groups and soon you will have the names of the people who are coordinating different things. 
>    
>   Cheers,
>   John

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| Andy Gunn - Technical and Training Organizer - Prometheus Radio Project |
|   SBE Certified Broadcast Radio Engineer and Networking Technologist    |
| andy at prometheusradio.org   215-727-9620   prometheusradio.org   KB3NSE  |
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