April 23, 2007
End of the Line for Djibo FM
On 12 April I received a phone call from a pastor in the south of Burkina, to tell me that we have once again been unsuccessful in our application for a radio license here in Djibo. Today I received the official confirmation that this is indeed the case.
The broadcasting license for Djibo was given instead to a local agriculture project which is due to close this year and which has already spent their funding.
During the application phase we were strongly advised to pay a small unofficial sum to each member of the ‘Conseil Superieur de Communication’ in order to sweeten them. The sum suggested was laughably small: 20,000 CFA ($40) for the president of the committee and 10,000 CFA ($20) for each of seven members. A grand total of $180.
Considering that our total budget for this project is in excess of $50,000, $180 would not have broken the bank. But as a board we had made a decision not to pay bribes. We thought that this kind of ruthless honesty was something that people would respect and God would honour. After all, the meaning of ‘Burkina Faso’ is ‘Land of Good and Upright Men’.
When I first heard the news that our application had been refused, it was a crushing disappointment. Disappointment in this country’s administration, disappointment in God and disappointment in myself. Could I have done anything better? Should I have paid the bribe, to achieve the greater-good? By not doing so, had I let down the community I had pledged to help?
I started planning this project four years ago. I have talked about it, blogged about it, prayed about it and fundraised for it more than I care to think about at the moment. I have invested many hundreds of hours, many hundreds of pounds and many kilojoules of hope in an enterprise which has come to absolutely nothing.
That’s the selfish angle on it, but the truth is, it’s not just me that has been working hard. Our partners in SIM, ASAREN and HCJB have been fully involved at every stage in the process.
There are some difficult decisions to be made now, regarding how and when to dismantle the project. My colleagues are advising me not to do anything rash just yet. But most of me would very much like to do something rash. The rasher the better, in fact. If you have any suggestions for Rash Things I Could Do To Vent Frustration, please add them in the comments section below.
Posted by sahelsteve at 04:21 PM
March 10, 2007
Construction begins
Building a wall around the radio station land:
Ali Barry - director of 'Djibo FM: Voice of the Shepherd':
Still waiting to hear re broadcasting licence...
Posted by sahelsteve at 11:11 AM
February 27, 2007
Woodless Construction
For some time now I have been very interested in woodless construction and we have now decided to build the Djibo FM studio in this way.
These buildings use only mud bricks, thereby saving the Sahel's precious trees. They are very stable and very nice to look at. Great.
Here is a sketch of the proposed studio. I'm afraid it doesn't give a very good impression of the beautiful domes and vaults of the mud-brick roofs though. You'll have to browse the galleries of DW's official woodless construction website for that.
Talking of woodless construction, Keith has been building some woodless houses for the flood victims over in Gorom-Gorom and yesterday he posted this heart-warming story about the ceremony they had to hand over the keys of the new houses.
Posted by sahelsteve at 12:14 PM
February 20, 2007
Banque International du Burkina
I got beaten up at the bank today.
Not literally, but no less painfully. I was told that my application for a deposit had been refused. Then it was un-refused. Then I was passed higher up the chain and it was flatly refused again. And un-refused again. And finally the typist who was told by her superior to type the deposit refused to type it. Only when I threatened to close the account there and then did she finally relent. The whole process took three hours.
The deposit is now in my briefcase. It's the last piece of paper we needed for the Djibo FM application. I'll submit the application in the morning and then travel back up to Djibo in the afternoon. I'm sick of the city.
I'm going to bed. Good night.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:04 PM
February 19, 2007
Bankers
Spent the afternoon waiting at BIB for an 'attestation' that Djibo FM has money in its account. It's the last bit of paper we need before submitting the licence application (hooray).
At the end of the day, I was told 'Revenez demain matin'. Sound familiar?
I'll go back tomorrow.
Posted by sahelsteve at 10:41 PM
February 07, 2007
Closing in on the Djibo FM licence
The invitation to submit applications for Burkina Faso radio frequencies has finally arrived. The Conseil Superieur de Communications posted this Avis d’appel à candidatures on their website at the end of December, and the deadline for submissions is 26 February 2007. Djibo is number 14 on their list of frequencies up-for-grabs.
So far as we know, there are two associations in Djibo who would like the Djibo licence. One us which is us. The grapevine has it that the other association (which will remain nameless, in case what follows isn't true!) has received substantial funding from a development bank and has 'eaten' all the money. They are now desperate to get the Djibo licence in order to cover up their 'detournement de fonds'.
The plot thickens...
Posted by sahelsteve at 08:43 PM
August 30, 2006
Djibo FM programme schedule
We have decided on a provisional programme schedule for Djibo FM. You can download it below in French or English:
Posted by sahelsteve at 06:33 PM
May 15, 2006
Djibo FM progress report
The Djibo radio project is taking a very long time to become a reality. It has been beset with false starts and disappointments, but I can't let go of it just yet. In 2006 I would like to make one more concerted effort to negotiate the bureaucratic minefield and obtain a broadcasting licence for a community radio station in Djibo town.
What we have:
- A formal partnership with HCJB, a Christian ministry with 75 years' experience in radio-planting. HCJB will be providing technical support and equipment, including the Crown 500 transmitter, which is specially designed for hot and dusty conditions
- An honest and well-respected station manager, Pastor Ali Barry, who has lived in Djibo for the last twenty years
- A qualified and experienced young technician
- Several candidates for Christian (Fulani) presenters
- Almost half of the necessary funds for the set up of the station
- Over 300 hours of archived sound: music, readings and testimonies
- A wonderful sound effect archive of moos, bleats and millet-pounding songs
What we don't have:
- A broadcasting permit
- Land to build on
Posted by sahelsteve at 09:51 PM
March 21, 2006
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting...
I visited the director of cadastral planning in Ouahigouya this morning, to settle once and for all the question of our application to buy a plot of land on which to build Djibo FM.
On the door of Monsieur Nankema's office was a translation into French of Kipling's poem 'If'. It was the 1918 translation by André Maurois. Maurois was very liberal in his re-ordering of the original poem's lines and his translation starts with this stanza:
Si tu peux voir détruit l'ouvrage de ta vie
Et sans dire un seul mot te mettre à rebâtir,
Ou perdre en un seul coup le gain de cent parties
Sans un geste et sans un soupir
Literally:
If you can see the work of your life destroyed
And without saying a word put yourself to rebuilding
Or lose in one go the winning of a hundred parts
Without a gesture and without a sigh
When I was eventually summoned in to see Mr Nanema, the interview was short and sweet:
Nanema: Bonjour.
Me: Bonjour. Comment allez vous?
Nanema: Bien, et vous?
Me: Bien, merci.
Nanema: What were you writing out there?
Me: If
Nanema: Hehehe.
Me: One of my favourites.
Nanema: Me too.
Me: You have the dossier?
Nanema: Yes. Your application has been rejected due to lack of architectural plans.
Me: I have the plans here.
Nanema: You need to take them back to Mr Sassan in Djibo.
Me: Mr Sassan rang you yesterday, didn't he? You told me to come here.
Long silence - I notice on the wall at a certificate commemorating Mr Nanema's participation in the Table Tennis World Cup at Bercy (France) in the 90's.
Me: Table tennis?
Nanema: Yes.
Me: Do you still play?
Nanema: A little.
Me: At home?
Nanema: At the club. Take the dossier back to Djibo and start the process again.
On my way to the door, Mr Nanema stopped me:
Nanema: You came from Djibo today?
Me: Yes.
Nanema: How?
Me: On the bus.
Nanema: (Pause) C'est pas facile.
Me: Oui. C'est pas facile.
Nanema: Au revoir.
Me: Au revoir.
Posted by sahelsteve at 05:03 PM
November 17, 2005
Struggle for Djibo FM continues
The land dossier saga continued today. Some Men in Black arrived this morning from Ouahigouya, bringing with them their clipboards and cadastral plans. I got a phone call telling me to join them tout rapidement at the 'Direction de Gestion de Terroires'. I first picked up pastor B first for moral support, and along we went. The purpose of the men's visit was to look at the land and decide whether we were worthy of it. We piled into their 4x4, drove up the road and established to everyone's satisfaction that the land exists and that no one has yet built on it. Then the fun started.
The six of us (three Men in Black, one agent, one pastor and myself) were all wandering around on the terrain with studied aimlessness when the chief Man in Black sidled up to me and told me that our land application had been rejected in Ouahigouya. A fellow who he referred to only as 'le technician' had rejected the dossier due to lack of detailed architectural plans (which at no stage in the process I had been asked to provide). Gulp.
Then he whispered that he was personally sympathetic to our project. Ca c'est bien, I said. I really hope you get the land, he said. Merci, I said. If you can give me some architectural plans now, he said, I'll see what I can do. I gave him some architectural plans. Ring me tomorrow afternoon, he said.
Then the Man in Black sidled off and the pastor sidled up to me and said, 'The agent just told me that in these cases it is customary to give a certain something to encourage them.'
'Like what?' I said.
'Money,' he said. 'I'm just repeating what the agent told me,' he said.
'Tell you what - I'll take them to Hotel Massa for a Coke before they go back to Ouahigouya.'
'I think they'd prefer cash,' he said, stepping from one foot to the other. 'I'm just telling you what the agent said,' he said.
At this point the agent sidled up to us. 'Is everything okay?'
The pastor shrugged. 'He wants to take them out for a Coke.'
'I think they would prefer cash,' said the agent, stifling a laugh.
'We have not budgeted for that,' I said.
'When in Rome,' said pastor B (in English), 'do as the Romans do.'
'Exactement,' said the agent.
The agent looked at me expectantly. The Men in Black were already back in the vehicle, waiting for us. The pastor was wringing his hands. I've never seen anyone actually wringing their hands, except in books.
'You're the Roman here,' I said to him. 'What shall we do?'
Pastor B laughed nervously. 'You decide,' he said.
'Just something symbolic,' said the agent.
I squirmed.
'Just so they can have a drink of water,' said the agent.
I >>>=voiceinthedes-21&l=as2&o=2&a=19053
Posted by sahelsteve at 05:48 PM
October 23, 2005
Malaria in Ouahigouya
Last weekend I went to Ouahigouya to drop off the dossier to buy the land to build the radio station. The journey there takes four hours on a bumpy dirt road. Two hours into the journey I began to feel sick, dizzy, achy etc - early signs of malaria. Funny how every step of this project has been met with Opposition, Snags and Unfortunate Events.
I spent the day in a hotel-room in feverish confusion and at 3 o'clock the receptionist took me to the Travaux Publique on the back of his moped. There I met with le Directeur de Transport, Infrastructure et Gestion des Territoires, who accepted the Djibo FM dossier graciously, grinned wolfishly and said, 'You realise that there will be powerful people opposed to this project of yours, don't you?' I said weakly that I did. Then he inked his rubber stamp and set about the dossier enthusiastically. I slumped in my chair and fought off delirium by counting the mobile phones on his desk.
Posted by sahelsteve at 05:38 PM
September 30, 2005
Range of Djibo FM
Even more exciting than seeing the book cover was seeing this projection of the range of Djibo FM, produced by HCJB. If we are able to get a 500 Watt transmitter, then the signal will reach as far as 100km (click on picture below for scale and enlargement).
That thick line towards the north, that's the Mali border. So it seems that even Mondoro and Diinanguru will be able to listen to 'Voix du Berger'. Those towns were the focus of our 2003 reconnaissance trip - the trip which first inspired me with the possibilities of radio in this region.
HCJB's involvement in this project has encouraged me that this thing is actually going to happen.
Posted by sahelsteve at 07:56 PM
June 18, 2005
Djibo FM website launch
If you have been visiting this site for a while now, you will know that I am obsessed with the idea of starting a radio station in Djibo in the north of Burkina Faso. The project has potential to be a physical and spiritual blessing to the people of this town.
We are planning the station under the supervision of ABEDD, an indigenous Christian charity based right here in Djibo. This means that the leadership of the station will be in African hands - very important for sustainability. Presenters and technicians will also be African. In fact, I hope to do as little as possible!
One thing I will be doing, though, is helping to raise awareness and support for the station. When you have a moment, please go and browse the Djibo FM website and see whether or not the project grabs you by the intestines. If it does, there are various ways you can get involved.
Posted by sahelsteve at 08:50 AM
April 30, 2005
moody photo
I call this one 'Fulani men waiting for July 2006 when (God-willing) Djibo FM will start broadcasting'.
Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized photo
Posted by sahelsteve at 04:02 PM
April 03, 2005
Bukari and friends
'Hey, Bukari, is it 3.30 yet?'
'Not yet. I will tell you when 3.30 comes.'
Bukari Hamadou is sitting on a broken wicker chair underneath a shade shelter of old millet stalks. In front of him is his stall - a folding table with separate compartments for tea leaves, sugar, cigarettes, powdered milk and dates. A couple other young men are squatting on a mat near Bukari and there is a large radio between them, sporting the oddly familiar brand-name Sonny. At the moment it is blaring out 'Inchana Massina', one of the greatest hits of Malian pop singer Ali Farka Toure. The lads wag their sandaled toes to the beat of the balafon and wait impatiently for 3.30.
'Make sure we don't miss the start, Bukari.'
'Shut up. We never miss the start.'
Bukari is one of many petits commerçants in Djibo, waiting around by the side of the road all day and hoping that someone will stop to buy a cigarette or a handful of dates. From dawn till dusk he sits with various friends and listens to music on Radio Mali. Except for 3.30 in the afternoon when he switches over to the national radio station of Burkina Faso to hear twenty minutes of programming in his mother tongue Fulfulde. It is only news, and it isn't even local news, but it is in Fulfulde and that is what counts.
When the rains come in June, Bukari and his friends will be out in the fields every day and they will only listen to the radio in the evenings. But for eight months of the year radio is a constant companion. It is not just a town thing either: visit any Fulani village in the north of Burkina Faso and you will find a cluster of Listeners under every acacia tree. Even the lonely Fulani herder out in the bush walks jauntily behind his cows with a staff across his shoulders and a radio to his ear.
Unlike the other provincial capitals in Burkina Faso, Djibo does not yet have its own FM radio station. If there is to be an aid distribution or a polio vaccination programme, a town-crier will go round the market banging a drum and shouting the news. Many in town will not hear, let alone those who live out in the villages. When locusts swarmed in the Sahel last year the whole of Djibo province was caught unprepared and 90% of the harvest was lost.
Christian missionaries face a similarly daunting task when it comes to announcing the good news of Christ to the Fulani in this area. Bukari and his friends have probably heard bits and pieces about Iisaa Al Masiihu (Jesus the Messiah), but not enough to understand the Christian message. As for the thousands of isolated settlements within 50 miles of Djibo, they are just as unreached as they were 300 years ago. As missionaries we can not hope to visit them all. But radio can.
Our vision is for a Christian radio station in Djibo which will bless the town and the surrounding villages. We will broadcast predominantly in Fulfulde and celebrate Fulani culture with lots of local music, folk stories and proverbs. In cooperation with local NGOs we hope to air programmes about AIDS, child health, animal-husbandry, agricultural techniques and pest-prevention. And in culturally sensitive ways we will announce the news of the Good Herder, Iisaa Al Masiihu.
The radio station project will be overseen by ABEDD (Association Betel pour l'Entraide et Development à Djibo), which includes members of SIM, World Horizons and the Assemblies of God. We are in the advanced planning stages and are now looking for partners both here in Burkina Faso and overseas who might help to fund the station.
Together, perhaps we can give Bukari Hamadou and his fellow radio-addicts something really worth waiting for.
The full project plan for Djibo FM can be downloaded here (password protected - if I know you, I will be happy to give you the password for this. Just email me)