WUNRN
LIBERIA
- WOMEN'S RADIO - ISSUES, STORIES, ACTIVISM
By Tamasin Ford
Liberia-Monrovia, Oct 8, 2010 (IPS) - "Voice for the
voiceless" is the slogan adorning the walls of Liberia’s first and
Africa’s second radio station for women.
Situated down a bumpy, dirt track on the edge of the
capital, Monrovia, the Liberia Women Democracy Radio (LWDR), claims it wants to
advance women and promote change. In a country trying to rebuild itself after
14 years of civil war in which women bore the brunt of the violence, they
remain the most vulnerable group in society.
"Before the radio station, we couldn’t get our voices
heard. The big people wouldn’t take our problems seriously," says Deborah
Reeves, a mother of four in Monrovia. "Now they hear them over and
over."
The 30 year old lives on Pagos Island, a stretch of land
surrounded by swamps completely cut off from the rest of the city. On an island
without electricity, public schools, a police station and not one health
centre, the four thousand inhabitants struggle to even make a living.
"I’ve seen things on this island that aren’t right in a
civilised world," exclaims Reeves as she shelters in the community church
with around forty other women.
"We’re a forgotten community, just fending for
ourselves.No one sees us. It’s like we’re not even here."
Reeves has brought people from the community together to
talk about how they, as women, can use the radio station to tell their stories
in an attempt to get authorities to act. As they sit in the stifling heat, some
with their babies strapped to their backs, others with a small child at their
knees, slowly, one by one, they get the courage to stand up to tell their
story.
One speaker, more a teenager than a woman, describes how she
started walking to the nearest clinic when she felt her first contraction. It
was dark, she was on her own and she had a two to three hour trek ahead of her.
She ended up giving birth on the way.
As she stands in front of the women, with passion and
sadness in her eyes, she explains how she tried to get the baby to take its
first breath.She had no idea how to do it, so she lay there on the road as the
baby died in her arms.
"I didn’t want to talk today," she says. "But
this is just disgracing women."
This story is just one of thousands.
"In the rural areas, women are not heard," says
Lady Mai Hunter, as she looks over her microphone in the production studio at
LWDR. These are the hard to reach groups the station wants to broadcast to.
Funded by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and facilitated by the
United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), LWDR broadcasts to eight of Liberia’s
fifteen counties. Their aim is to increase their transmitter power and reach
out to women all over the country.
At 22 years old and already a young mother herself, Hunter
knows all too well the struggles women in Liberia still face. "We have a
female President and outside of Liberia people think that everything is okay
for women here, but it’s not. Sexual exploitation, rape and wife battering are
all big problems here."
In 2006, Liberia voted in Africa’s first female president,
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. While this in itself is a great inspiration for women
all over the country, female voices are still rare in high level discussions on
peace and security. For President Sirleaf, LWDR is a way to get those often
forgotten voices aired.
"I’m extremely pleased and I understand we’re the
second women’s radio station on the continent and that again pleases us in that
we’ve broken ground in this regard," says Sirleaf she.
However, the president is aware of the challenges Liberian
women face. "We still have some serious problems in Liberia; serious
problems regarding rape, regarding the retention of girls in school. I hope
through this station they will be able to focus on these problems."
Rape is the number one reported crime in Liberia and
children are often the victims. A recent survey of rape survivors in Monrovia
found three out of eight were under the age of twelve, while one in ten was
under five. But issues like rape, teenage pregnancy, female genital mutilation
and prostitution are rarely, if ever, talked about on other stations across the
country.
The media, run almost exclusively by men, seldom touch on
these subjects, preferring to pontificate about politics and policy making.
With the next elections in October 2011, LWDR is calling for women to start
playing a crucial role in shaping their country’s future.
And so far, the Liberia Women Democracy Radio station is
providing a glimmer of hope for women like Deborah Reeves. "LWDR is an eye
opener for us. To be frank, women face such terrible conditions in this country
and their voices are never heard. Now, if I’m hurt, I can use the radio to tell
my story and reach authorities who can help us."