Attention! About turn! At ease!

The 30km Route March of which I only did 5km...

My ears are now becoming accustomed to commands while working at 6 SAI. Attention! About Turn! At ease! While I am gaining more knowledge about this structured workplace, I am also starting to find gems in all my audio collection. My last blog post spoke about my frustration at not being able to have easy access to the women with whom I want to speak. But after a full week at the Fittest Soldier Competition, at least I have some really great audio to compliment the interviews that I will be having with these women. I am feeling ‘at ease’ :). 

Interviewing female soldiers taking part in the competition

On Women’s Day- 9^th of August 2012, Mike (my fellow radio student), accompanied me to the competition with a camera to practice his photography. We were up at 6am, and at the 6 SAI base at 7:15am! We thought we were early enough to begin the ‘Route March’ with the competing soldiers, but we weren't- the soldiers started their march about 15mins earlier than we had expected. The 'Route March' saw the soldiers march over 30kms with a bag on their backs filled with sand and their water bottles. We were at the back, following them as they walked- we only managed 5kms and then turned back. I recorded my own experience of walking this terrain and I definitely want to include this in the documentary as it shows how fit these men and women are in comparison to us. It also shows their dedication, again as opposed to ours. The audio gives great insight into the competition and my experience of this new world. For me, it is a highly demanding world, and yet it is one which many these soldiers treat as their norm.

Women's Day and yet these soldiers are on a Route March. A 30km Route March!

Coming over the first hill- the soldiers march on...and on...and on...

I had another interview this week, this time with Ntomboza Kobekitcha. She’s a Privateer and works in the Logistics section of the military. I only just realised that I didn’t know what a ‘privateer’ is so that is another question I plan to find the answer to along with my many others. The interview with her was very impromptu, and I feel that I could have got more out of it, but it was a start. One of the things Ntomboza spoke about which I would like to ask the other women as well, was her family’s reaction to her working in the military. She told me about how her family were not happy about her decision to become a soldier. In her words: 

“my mother was against it, she even called the family and everything... she said it was dangerous and what what. Being a soldier is a calling, so I went....” 

A calling? I keep asking myself how strong that calling must be if it means joining a workforce in which there is the likelihood of being shot, being hurt and yes, dying. But for her it was about the calling, about proving to her family that “as a woman, I can make it. There’s no difference between a woman and a man... if a man can do it, I can also do it...”. 

I’m at the point of my research where I am starting to uncover similar themes between the stories these women tell. Captain Windvogel and Ntomboza talk about being women in a man's world and being able to work as well as any man. They sometimes mention a struggle to get where they are currently. 

Next step? I want to know what it means for them to be women in the work they do. Does this make any difference? I guess in this whole process I am finding out what it means for me to be a woman too and how I, like them, place myself in male dominated spaces. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere.

Nadia

Throwing Forward (far, far forward!)

Does it ever make you nervous to think too far ahead? To think about all the things that could go wrong, the things that may succeed and the things that will need more planning? Just thinking about our community partnership and how it will end up, come June, makes me panic slightly. I’m panicking because the team of four radio students- BK, Mike, Steve and I- will dwindle to only me. I panic because the Upstarters might not know as much as I hope they will, and can we keep this group of six Upstarters interested in the project for the entire year? Panic as I may, there still is hope. That hope is in the success of this week. 

Wednesday arrived this week, as Wednesdays do and I found myself less stressed and dealing mainly with the smaller details required to kick the Upstart radio project into action. All my planning and delegating had finally paid off as BK took the reins and prepped for the workshop. She covered interviewing skills again and began looking into scripting for radio. 

The highlight of the workshop was when we grouped the Upstarters into threes and got them to interview Jeanne duToit (our fourth year radio lecturer) and Jude Mathurine (the fourth year new media lecturer). I was as nervous, if not terrified about how Jude and Jeanne would treat the ‘newbies’. Jude somewhat lived up to my expectations, making it quite difficult for Roche’, Anesipho and Ziphozihle while they tried to interview him. When I say difficult, I mean: he took FOREVER to settle down, went off course with the questions, analysed their questions a little too harshly and then gave a mini-lecture after the interview. I felt sorry for my Upstarters and wanted to get them out of there ASAP! But hey, I suppose they learnt something from that- life doesn’t have any rehearsals.  

•   Anelisa, Thobani and Sinovuyo place Jeanne duToit (fourth year lecturer) in the hotseat as they ask her questions detailing her youth.

• From left: Roche’, Anelisa, Sinovuyo, Thobani, Anesipho and Ziphozihle having a squizz through the latest edition of Upstart while waiting for the taxi home on Wednesday. 

Saturday’s show saw Roche’ and Thobani on the airwaves for the first time. Roche’ couldn’t even write his script he was so panicked! But the show went off well as our anchor Xoliswa was there this time and his interaction with the six was great! They read their re-written Upstart scripts on air and then after a break, we posed the question to them: “If you were Mayor for a day, what would you do/change?” We had answers ranging from Roche’ wanting skating parks, to Thobani wanting all Upstarters to get free Blackberries. Issues we could delve into in later shows? I’m sure we could work on it- or rather raise some interesting debate about some of these and more in-depth issues these Upstarters face. The four girls were very relaxed this time round.

• Roche's nerves getting the better of him- but a stellar performance from him in the end.

 As the Upstarters become more acquainted with the fourth year radio students, the anchors, studios, equipment and idea of the community partnership, I am getting the feeling that they are also starting to open up. With them becoming more comfortable with us and each other, the potential for interesting and solid show ideas/topics will start to flow. Currently we are driving the ‘show bicycle’, but by second term, I want to see us (Mike, Steve, BK and I) holding one handle bar and Sinovuyo, Thobani, Ziphozihle, Roche’, Anesipho and Anelisa holding the other bar. Come June, I want them to be holding the bars and breaks, while I help them steer the bike and apply brake pressure when needed. It is not a distant goal at all and that makes me panic even more! But one thing at a time- or in keeping with my bicycle analogies, one grip at a time. 

Once the Upstarters have taken over from the radio kids, I would like for the show to sound or at least contain elements of the Upstarters with a hint of the radio students. I see a jingle being produced with their voices running throughout and a few stings to identify the Upstart slot on the Yung Amplified show. I want the show to be an honest, fresh, and prepared segment that reflects these youngsters’ personalities. Last night (Saturday), my friends and I were chatting about Carlie and Sade’ from Yo-TV in our younger days. We all knew who these two presenters were as we watched the show religiously, entered all the competitions and played all the games daily. I want our Upstart show to be as interactive, and as familiar to the Grahamstown youth as that show was to me. It will take time, but it will happen! 

How will they be able to produce a show like this? I’m still working on that answer but I know that, they will at least have all the skills in place to record, edit, interview and produce content for a show of this type by June. The trying periods will be the vacation times- as they will have to run their hour slot without us there. That crash course will prepare them for what may or may not come and how to deal with it as a team. Let’s hope that experience is a good one- I’ll keep you posted in the meantime though. 

 Nadia

• The team in studio on Saturday and having some fun with ideas around "if they were mayor for the day".

• We set the Upstarters to blogging after the show about their week's experiences.