"Here we are!" say kids in Ecuador

Children involved in a Plan radio project in Guayaquil are finding an outlet for their ideas and opinions as well as learning what makes for a great broadcast.

Every Saturday, Carolina leaves her home in the Guasmo district, in the southwest of Guayaquil and goes to the offices of "Aquí los Chicos" (Here We Are!), where she gets everything ready for the radio programme going out that day.

A neighbour stops her as she passes: "I hope you'll send me greetings today because I listen to you every Saturday", she says, to Carolina's surprise. It's one thing to tell family and friends to listen to you, but another when "an older person tells you that she likes what you're doing and asks you to send her greetings", says Carolina.

The children's radio project has been running for 10 years in Guayaquil. Participants are trained in writing scripts, preparing reports, editing them and presenting live radio programmes. Yet there is always something new to learn as new kids join the team and the training starts again.

Although the two-hour programme "Aquí los Chicos" is broadcast live, every Saturday, it requires a lot of preparation. Everything needs to be right first time, and there is no room for error.

José Francisco, aged 12, is sitting in the booth and talking into a microphone, directed by 13-year-old Emilio, who is adjusting the volume controls on the console.

The children have their political opinions and are not afraid to talk about them. But, more than politics, the focus is on getting together a good 'radio product'. José Francisco stops; the sound is not being picked up by the computer.

"They're teaching us to use software like Adobe Audition to do digital editing", explains Andrés, aged 14, who comes up to the console to find out what's wrong. He finds a lead that's not where it should be and plugs it in.

"Sometimes I stay late, I really enjoy it. I edit what they say and look for music that fits in well with each of the recordings. There are a lot of records here, so I look through them to find what I need for the audio to sound good" says Andrés, who acts as a guide for the others.

If they can, and their other commitments don't get in the way, they work every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But that's not as easy as it sounds and they have sometimes had to give up other things to make time. "We have sometimes stayed until nine on Friday night", says Segundo, who is 15. Along with Carolina, he is one of the longest-serving members of the group.

Fifteen young people participate on a regular basis, getting together to choose topics for each programme. Once they have decided on content, they allocate jobs and they get down to work.

Carolina and Johanna are sitting at a table, getting the scripts ready for next Saturday's programme. The main topic is nutrition and, in particular, they want to get one idea across. "We want the people listening to realize that you don't need a lot of money to eat properly. We want them to understand that poverty shouldn't be an excuse", says Carolina.

The programme provides a great opportunity for the young people involved to make it clear that they have opinions on issues that interest everyone. "Adults listen to us, they don't ignore us when we're on the air, as we're not making a programme for kids, but a programme for everyone," says Carolina.

The best thing of all is that people listen to them and call them up, depending on the topic. How many calls make them feel that they are being heard? "About 10, we couldn't take any more as then the programme would be nothing but calls", says Johanna.

So they keep preparing the programme, tweaking the details, working and laughing. Slowly but surely, the programme is taking shape. They are still kids having fun, doing something that they enjoy, but having their voices on the radio waves is a responsibility, and they know it.