[Imc-africa] Radio HURU Back on the Air broadcasting voices from the slums of Nairobi

[Danielle Chynoweth]

IMC Africa list - we can not reach the IMC Kenya website - please post this
to Kenya.indymedia.org and indymedia.org on our behalf - D\

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WE ARE BACK ON THE AIR! ... RADIO HURU is broadcasting within the World
Social Forum as a demonstration project, after being robbed at gunpoint two
nights ago.  Everyone is safe, but lots of equipment was stolen including a
laptop from a French indymedia activist with a lot of data.  Three indymedia
women were told to lie on the floor while the robbers took what they could
carry and then locked them in the studio.  Luckily they were found within
the half hour by a Kenya IMC member.

The police responded to our report by asking us what we were doing so far up
in the stadium where the World Social Forum is going on.  We were provided
with a press sky box in the stadium – two floors higher than most activities
– to  establish an independent media studio.  The police never wrote a
report, nor were they interested in looking at photos we took of the robbers
who had visited us earlier in the day.

Today we are back on air, broadcasting interviews we have collected from the
surrounding slums of Nairobi – airing many of the voices that are not heard
here at the World Social Forum, which, although affordable by some
standards, is not affordable for those who are living in shacks made out of
garbage with little or no source of income.  65 percent of Nairobi residents
live in 5 percent of the land in slums with little to no infrastructure.

About 20 African citizen-journalists – most of them producing audio for the
first time – have created hours of interviews about the issues of housing,
HIV/AIDS policies, gay and lesbian rights, human rights, youth issues, and
the importance of independent media.

We have nearly zero access to internet the entire time we have been here.
Power outages, viruses, broken equipment, stolen equipment, and total
internet unreliability both at the WSF, our home connection, and throughout
Nairobi has set back our hopes to share the audio we have gathered in the
immediate term.  A few days ago, we were able to upload 1 or 2 MB files
after many many hours of work.  The kenya.indymedia.org website has not been
accessible for days.  Having started with 6 minidisc recorders, we are now
down to 2. We hope to post all audio after some of our delegation return to
a more reliable connection this weekend.

So we have turned our focus way from the internet, producing a 5,000 piece
newspaper on the WSF activities in English and Kiswahili.  We are also
focused on radio production, now broadcasting using a demonstration
transmitter and antenna built by African Indymedia activists with the help
of the Prometheus Radio Project.

Central to the work of this Indymedia delegation has been establishing
relationships and helping to link many groups within Nairobi.

Koch FM, the first ghetto radio, is about to start broadcasting again from
Korogocho, Kenya after being shut down by the Kenyan communications
commission last June.  They were broadcasting without a license on part of
the spectrum not used by other radio stations.  They have build a swank 3
room studio out of an shipping container – complete with audio production
facilities and two studios.  They are helping to DJ  RadioHuru, our
temporary station just three floors above me.

Pro-Active Youth is working with a coalition of 20 organizations in Kangemi,
Kenya, another slum to on the Northeast side.  They are hoping to develop a
radio station in Kangemi to empower youth, talk about the issues facing
those in Kangemi, and speak a different picture of the slum – one full of
creativity, talent, and hard work with no access and no chances.

We travel next to Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya to build another
transmitter to establish a university radio station as an interface between
their communications department and the community.

Kenya Indymedia is greatly strengthened by this convergence and we hope to
continue to build solidarity across borders for global justice and free
speech.

- Ida
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