Ferenj-ship Radio

The name is corny, yes I know. It sounds better out loud in that "radio voice," I promise. For about three months now, four other Peace Corps Volunteers and I have been working on a radio program for the Gonder Fana FM radio station. It reaches the ears of listeners on Sunday mornings (supposedly) in a 500 km radius (supposedly), which includes my town. The main premise of the program is to communicate Health and HIV/AIDS knowledge via mass media.


The show is essentially a running drama with a follow-up discussion after each episode. The drama includes two main characters, Aynalem and Yohannes, who are about to graduate college as well as their friends and family members. Each episode there is a crisis in varying degrees faced by the characters. Each character has his or her own way of dealing with the problem based on their individual disposition. We try to make it as congruent as possible to Ethiopian traditions and values, but we also try to remain realistic and relatable. For example, let us not pretend everyone waits until marriage to have sex or everyone uses a condom or infidelity does not exist. Moreover, let us not pretend we always make a wise decision even if we know what is best. We try to do our best in highlighting these issues in a respectable and clear manner. Afterwards, offering a brief commentary about what happened and how to possibly approach the problem. The goal is to provide the listener with adequate information in order for him or her to make an informed decision. We don't give the solution; we just offer the opportunity to create one.

Did I tell you that the show is all in Amharic? The program is essentially about sex as indicated by clips of Salt 'n Pepa's song "Let's Talk About Sex" interspersed throughout the show. It is difficult to discuss "it" even in our mother tongue and even more challenging in another language. It is a challenge we all decided to take on, though. There is always an Ethiopian to help with the translation of the transcripts we write. The words chosen attempt to be as simple as possible, but frankly, we don't use this type of dialogue in everyday life as a Peace Corps Volunteer (i.e. "Do you think we are ready to have sex?"). Well, I'll speak for myself here. During recordings we tend to trip over the dialogue and get frustrated that we can't fluently pronounce a 13-syllable word. Then again, most Ethiopians tune into the show just to hear ferenjis speak Amharic and make these mistakes. And people actually do listen to the program. We all introduce ourselves in the beginning of the show and plug Peace Corps because even if we don't know what we are exactly doing here, they will. I let the audience know where I hail from (Injibara) and the couple of names they may know me by (Emily, Emuye). Several people in my community have told me they heard the show and usually comment about how fluent I am (I can also see their noses growing). Some mention the character's names and ask when the next episode is. This puts a smile on my face. However, even if no one was listening, I think we would still want to do it. Radio programming is intriguing. Creating drama is equally enjoyable.


This past weekend the next two episodes were recorded and the transcripts for six others have been written along with the character development. We plan on doing 13 episodes total for the pilot program. Then we will try to get funding in order to advertise, write, plan, and evaluate more efficiently and effectively. Ideally we will be touring all over Ethiopia within the next six months. Sike! I don't expect lunch boxes or figurines to be made in honor of the show, but we all would like this to work and have a solid listenership. Our expectations are reasonable. Nevertheless, it is a great opportunity to see each other, make up stories, be creative, practice our Amharic, make fools of ourselves, and most importantly, enlighten the people who do listen to us. We have a lot of great ideas and after my trip to the States that doubled my iTunes catalog, we now have a lot of music to share during the music breaks. This allows me to entertain my inappropriate crush on Justin Bieber or just let Ethiopians know that there are other American artists besides Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, and Michael Bolton. Tune in for the next episode of Ferenjiship Radio!...