From firewood collection to Barack Obama

Refugees from Darfur Get Own Radio Stations

GEORGE PAPAGIANNIS/INTERNEWS On a visit to Chad, US Senator Barack Obama was interviewed by reporter Issaka Allafouza (left) for La Voix du Ouaddaï, one of three radio stations Internews built for Darfuri refugees.

When fighting broke out in a region of northeastern Chad and medical staff were evacuated from a local hospital, Radio Absoun, a community radio station that serves refugees from Darfur as well as the local Chadian population, let people know not to take their wounded there.

When relief agencies urged refugees to use solar cookers instead of hunting for scarce firewood, Radio Absoun covered the story. The station’s reporting helped refugees to voice their concerns—including objections that the cooking did not taste as good without the smoke flavor—but also made them more aware that firewood collection was causing environmental damage and increasing tensions with local Chadians.

Through Radio Absoun, which broadcasts from the dusty frontier town of Iriba, the refugees have gained a forum to express their concerns to the relief agencies, and the agencies are able to explain their roles and programs more effectively.

GEORGE PAPAGIANNIS/INTERNEWS Fiacre Munezeero, right, Internews’ Resident Advisor in Chad, poses with Badour, a Darfuri refugee turned reporter.

Radio Absoun is one of three community radio stations Internews is establishing along Chad’s border with Sudan to improve the lives of tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in Darfur, and the lives of Chadians affected by their arrival.

The station broadcasts a mixture of news, information and music for six hours every day. The result is that for the first time, refugees hear news that directly affects their survival, including information on security, food rations and water distribution; where to get health and immunization services; and what is happening in their home areas. Radio Absoun also airs social and educational programs, especially those dealing with violence against women and domestic abuse. The staff includes Chadians and Sudanese refugees who produce their programs in Arabic, French and Zaghawa.

In a news coup, another station Internews started, La Voix du Ouaddaï, interviewed US Senator Barack Obama about security issues after he visited a refugee camp on the border in August.

Internews works in partnership with a Chadian organization, l’Association de Développement des Médias Communautaires (ADMC). Internews’ project is funded by the US Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives, the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).