By Gibron Rahim

IT IS said that the name “Mashramani” is derived from a Lokono word meaning “celebration after cooperative work”. It is a suitable name for a celebration that commemorates our country’s republic anniversary. At the same time, we cannot help but remember the Lokono and other Indigenous Peoples who are an essential part of the fabric of Guyana. Their languages are worthy of preservation. This is one of the reasons behind the National Communication Network’s (NCN) Regional Radio initiative.

It is the International Year of Indigenous Languages and this fact is not lost on Michella Abraham Ali, Regional Radio Manager at NCN. She told the Pepperpot Magazine that her role is to supervise the regional radio stations. So far there are seven regional stations – Radio Paiwomak, Radio Lethem, Radio Mabaruma, Radio Mahdia, Radio Bartica, Radio Aishalton and Radio Orealla. Ali related that in 2016, the Government of Guyana through the office of the Prime Minister, with NCN as the executing agency, commissioned Radio Lethem and Radio Mabaruma. “In 2017 we commissioned Mahdia and Bartica,” she said. “In 2018 we commissioned Orealla and Aishalton.”

Ali explained that the regional stations are affiliates to NCN. NCN acts as a “mother station”, feeding these stations with most of their content, with the exception of Radio Paiwomak. On the ground at these stations; however, local programmes are done on a minimum of two hours on any given day. Ali explained that there are just not enough resources to support more than that. Local broadcasters are members of the communities, such as elders and teachers, who have limited to no broadcasting experience. There are also power supply challenges in some of the communities that limit the ability to broadcast.
The local programmes are focused on the communities in which they are broadcast.

Additionally, because it is the International Year of Indigenous Languages all seven stations are mandated to have at least a programme or a segment of a programme per day or week focused on an Indigenous language. She noted that, with the exception of Aishalton where there is a broadcaster fluent in the language, the broadcasters are more fluent in English and have to engage their community’s elders who know the languages. The project is still a work in progress. “It’s now something that we’re building on,” Ali said. “The intention is, through synergies and collaborations with the Guyana Languages Unit, the University of Guyana, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, we are going to build capacity for the broadcasters [and] for us here at NCN.”

That process has already started. Ali related that they have already made links with the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA). She pointed out that the APA already has a resource base and a network of people. “Through Dr. Laura George [and] Ovid Williams, they are putting us in touch with people who can help us especially to engage on Indigenous issues – land rights issues, environmental issues and social issues,” she said. The aim is to address these issues on the regional stations in both English and translated into the Indigenous languages of the people of those communities. There is a need to find translators for those languages. “It’s a lot of work in progress,” Ali noted. “We have genius and ambitious plans but we’re dealing with a very small resource base that’s accessible here on the coast and it’s very expensive to travel.”

The aim is not to just highlight issues, however. Ali noted the importance of coming up with solutions to these issues. Engaging the people is an essential part of that process. “You can’t have a radio station and just the policymakers or the ministers or the leaders are the ones doing the talking, we want to have the people involved,” she affirmed. She said that the goal is to move beyond the novelty of the platform, as radio is still relatively new to many of these communities. The goal, she noted, is to harness the platform and make it something that can promote the lifestyle, culture and language of the Indigenous peoples of these communities in a very tangible way. “And to have their willingness and pride to want to do that,” she added.

From 2016 to now, the major force behind the regional radio stations has been Prime Minster, Moses Nagamootoo, according to Ali. “He has really been the driving force and it’s very simple – his intention is that people are in the know,” she said. She noted that the regional radio stations also reach surrounding communities, in addition to the communities in which they are based. These communities do not have access to television or newspapers nor did they have access to radio previously. “The intention is that [the radio stations] blanket Guyana meaning there should be no pocket of the country that doesn’t have information,” Ali stated.

The importance of the regional radio stations cannot be overemphasised. “We want the people to be proud of who they are,” Ali affirmed. One of the ways of doing so is through the radio. “If a radio station has the capacity to reach 20-25 villages,” said Ali, “that radio station has the potential to celebrate the accomplishments, highlight the challenges, help to be part of the solutions and the overarching objective is just for them to develop [and] be part of the development process.” In addition to that, the intention is to give the people of the communities an opportunity to share their talents.

Ali concluded, “A coastal experience is different from a hinterland experience so let the hinterland people showcase, express, be part of and get involved rather than us sitting here in Georgetown and trying to understand and express and represent for the people. They can do it in their local programmes while we will provide, from Georgetown, the rest of the national conversations happening.”