Guest blogs
The Tale of Zambian Trees
By Jack Bird. “Its just so...painful,” Boniface said as he pulled the motorcycle over on the side of the road. It was an understatement to say the least. Boniface, my agro-forestry mentor and guide here in Zambia, had taken me out to Nakabwe, a small center on the...
What Would We Do Without Teachers?
By Laura Ruggles. As part of our internship, Lynsey, Jack, and I have been visiting Taonga radio schools around Chikuni Parish to learn more about radio education. The Ministry of Education in Zambia created a radio program called Learning at Taonga Market that offers...
Energy – The Oxygen of Africa’s Growth and Development
Historically people associate the sound of Africa as the roar of the lion; but in reality, it’s been the roar of the diesel generator. Herds of these archaic beasts are on the prowl. Their habitat includes cities, towns, factories, mines, businesses and big farms -...
The Indignities of Illiteracy
Nelson Mandela so powerfully said, “there is no dignity in poverty.” Neither is there dignity in being illiterate. Many times I've heard people speak of their feelings of humiliation because they have to ask someone to read a label, a signpost or directions for...
NOT A BLOG – Disaster Response Needs Radio
Since our inception in 1999, Lifeline Energy has been directly involved in every major humanitarian emergency.
World’s Newest Nation Faces Huge Educational Challenges
Having recently emerged from nearly four decades of conflict, in which two million people were killed and four million displaced, everything was destroyed and everything needs rebuilding or building in the first place. South Sudan, the world’s newest country, also...
Honouring a Zambian Angel for International Women’s Day
If you remove the second ‘a’ from Angela, it becomes the word angel. And an angel is what Angela Malik is to hundreds of at-risk and orphaned children in Lusaka’s high density Ng’ombe compound. Last year the Ministry of Education introduced me to Angela when we were...
Lifeplayer Features in ICT in Education Paper
Our solar and wind-up Lifeplayer media player is featured in a recent DFID-funded research paper on ICT in Education. The Lifeplayer, which is a media player, five-band radio and recorder, was identified for its ability to provide education in areas where there...
Radio is Still Relevant
Hannah Fitt, Director of The SAFE Foundation, and Habbiba Mackintosh, a volunteer at SAFE, for World Radio Day, 2013 Back in 2010 we were working in India in the scrub jungle of Tamil Nadu. It ‘s a pretty remote, tribal region where the local people are used to making...
A Radio Station Lives on Because of their Dedicated Listeners
Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives, for World Radio Day, 2013 Springbok Radio, a former radio station of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in South Africa, closed its transmission at the end of 1985. It was the first commercial...