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September 08, 2008

Walfadjiri

Dear friends,

This has been a hard month for me as I have watched the building of a Muslim radio station in Djibo. The mast and antenna are complete now, and they tower high over the town centre. The name of the station is Walfadjiri - an Islamic association.

Walfadjiri was one of two associations granted FM licences in Djibo last year. The other association is PDES, a Swiss-funded development project. I do not know whether PDES are close to starting construction.

We have been advised that 'Voice of the Shepherd' has one last chance of gaining a licence - later this year - but we will have to think carefully about whether or not to try for this. If Walfadjiri and PDES both start broadcasting in Djibo, I do not think that building another station would be a responsible use of time and funds. Two stations would be healthy competition, but three would be a crowd. So our decision depends partly on how viable Walfadjiri and PDES are as projects. It's disappointing to be in this position, of course, after five years of planning.

At the very least, we hope to set up a recording studio and produce quality programs in Fulfulde that can be broadcast on other stations or distributed on cassette. Our studio equipment is currently in a container ship somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, due to arrive in December.

Thanks again to all those who sent money in response to our Tuareg Refugee appeal. We did the final distribution in Mentao a couple weeks ago, a further 350 kilograms of rice which should see the refugees through to the end of rainy season. Mark Gibson (SIM) showed the Jesus film in the camp last month and wrote this account of the evening.

We've started a weekly children's club. Charlie's August newsletter has more about that, and a variety of other news.

Lots of love to you and your families. Allah beydu jam.

Posted by sahelsteve at September 8, 2008 04:45 PM