Week One- Community Partnership Project: Yung Amplified/Upstart

I am shit-scared. Those were about the most accurate thoughts that went flying through my head when we were introduced to the community partnership project (Upstart/Yung Amplified). Not the best response, I know, but bear with me, it was daunting!

 It was daunting knowing that I would have to work in the Grahamstown community with a group of people who have already established themselves and have as much to say as I, a Fourth Year Radio Student does. Daunting again when I met their ‘leader’ Shireen Badat who is clearly the spine of the project and the watchdog who will growl at you lest you tread on her children’s toes. I would like to think however that I am starting to absorb all of the information (slowly) and prepare as swiftly as I can for a challenging yet (hopefully!) rewarding term. 

The purpose of the project I think will become clearer as I start to work and engage with Upstart. I think for now however, the purpose is to launch a group of Upstart kids into the world of radio and to ensure that as we step slowly away from the project into our own lives come 2013, they should be able to manage and sustain the Yung Amplified radio show. I also think the purpose for us as students is to ensure that we engage not only critically and ‘professionally’, but at a level that is appropriate and engaging for this specific audience. I would like to think that Jeanne and Shireen are trying to engage us in ‘real-life’ situations which will give us the skills to tackle the working world and any project that comes our way. The purpose therefore will be a mutual transfer of knowledge, skills and friendship (I like the friendship part the most!).  

I don’t say this proudly, but when I think about the kinds of people I’ll be working with and about the kinds of communities I will be exposed to, I think instantly of poverty. Let me explain my thoughts and position on this: When I say ‘poverty’, I think about children without adult supervision during the day- these would include youngsters below the ages of 7- years old. I think of people struggling to buy food in a week, large numbers of people in a one-room house and dusty back yards as their ‘gardens’. Instantly, I also find myself thinking that this community are all illiterate and I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them. But then I think about Upstart/Yung Amplified and this directly challenges my ‘middle-class’ assumptions. These pupils are tackling stereotypes and proving that they are as educated, as motivated and as excited about learning as I am. I’m quite happy that they have challenged and proved me wrong on certain points, and I cannot wait to see what else they will show myself and my team. There is certainly a whole other side of education that they know that I do not and they might see me as illiterate in their world. 

There is a lovely quote which describes my assumptions and the manner in which they will be challenged. It is by Oscar Wilde and it goes: “When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.” Therefore, from this blogpost onwards, I choose (and will try my hardest) not to make an “ass out of you and me”.

The Upstart/Yung Amplified project is tricky in terms of trying to place the children we will be working with into a ‘needy’ box. This group has grown in strength and is functioning quite well on their own. It almost seems like WE need THEM at the moment. But the youngsters that we will be engaging with are from communities that have challenges and may need some ‘time-out’ from these situations to engage in new and stimulating activities- that being the medium of radio. I think the needs of these Upstart members probably range from just needing friendship to actually needing an escape from difficult and challenging situations, such as alcoholic parents. From working on the Ukufunda Radio Show last year, I think there is in particular a need for more literacy awareness in these communities. Through a project like this, I feel strongly that we will be able to tackle these head on. 
   

I have learnt a lot in my time here at Rhodes and I think the most was through the ‘Journalism, Democracy and Development course’. Reason being because I felt as though there was a two-way flow of information, skill and communication. Usually as a journalist, you feel that as the outsider, you get the story and you swoop out again. For the JDD project, we got to know the people- we felt as though we were a part of the community itself- for me, that is what makes good journalism. 

I want to offer this project something similar to last year’s project. I would like to offer my skills, time and friendship. I have accumulated a number of ‘professional’ (I still contest this issue) skills that I can offer this project ie: helping to produce the Yung Amplified Radio Show for organisation, Upstart.

Very often it’s so easy to forget to actually learn or try to take in something new when in the daily motions of interviewing, finding stories, hunting down sources etc. I would like to constantly refer back to this blog and try open up to this often. I believe that I will learn how to communicate effectively with a number of people through their varying ages. The Upstart project caters mainly for high school pupils and there are different organisations involved in the running and sponsorships of it. Working with these organisations as well as the Upstart members will ensure that I constantly challenge myself and learn to adapt easily to different situations. 

I will also learn to take a step back as I like to be in control very often. For this project to work well, these pupils will need to learn what they can from me and the team, and while they learn, I need to take small steps backwards giving them the chances to flex their radio muscles. I think at the end of this process, my initial thoughts of “I am shit-scared” will still be there. But this time, the difference will be because I will not want to leave the new-formed friendships, interactions and lessons I learnt from the community partnership projects. I look forward to that change.    

*Click here to see the link to the Upstart website.