Radio programme helps change behaviour

In a small town in north-west Haiti, children and parents are learning new ways to communicate, thanks to a half-hour radio program, Our Own Voice, sponsored by Plan.

It is common, in a small house crowded by six children and headed by an overworked single parent, for sparks to fly. The whip - rigwaz in Kreyòl - is often used. But since the radio program began, a year ago, the beatings have lessened.

'My mother used to beat me when I did something wrong,' says 17 year-old Angeline. 'Now we talk about things. I have learned about respect for my parents and my mother doesn't beat me.'

Our Own Voice, broadcast through Radio Gama every Sunday afternoon in Fort Liberté, is designed, produced and aired by 25 boys and girls. They write news and stories, play songs and recite poems which touch on the issues that are important to them. The youths receive training in radio techniques from Radio Netherlands, and in journalism from the Panos Institute.

The young journalists go out into their community, to meet people, like the boys in a nearby orphanage. They exchange stories, play soccer, and even play music together, before going out to see how fizzy drinks are made at the local bottling plant.

'In school, I have become a role model,' says 17 year-old Jessica. 'One day a fight broke out in the classroom and one of the children said 'Hey, we have a journalist here - she can solve the problem'.'

For Angeline, the experience has changed not only her home life but her whole outlook. 'Before, when I saw a street child, I would feel nothing,' she says. 'Now I know they have no parents to educate them or raise them. Now I understand and I care. I feel a certain responsibility for that child. I can help that child in a small way.'

'Our Own Voice' is a local favourite on Sunday afternoon. People stay home to watch it. They stock up on batteries for small transistors. And kids talk about it Monday at the school break. That's a sign of program success.