Research Background

Study and media background

I graduated as B.Dram student at the University of Stellenbosch.  Then I completed an HED in Drama in Education and English.  After living and travelling and working through France for a year I ended up in the media capital of South Africa - Johannesburg, where I worked as presenter of a children's programme for television, actress in a children's theatre group, as dubbing translator for French films, as voice-over and dubbing artist, scriptwriter for the television series Generations and even dabbled in astronomy through UNISA. I wrote radio dramas that were actually broadcast and stage plays that were actually performed.

And then - why children?

My desire to try and improve the lives of future generations of children, was born during my two years of volunteer work at the Burns Ward of the Red Cross Children's Hospital after I moved back to Cape Town to show my own four children mountains and sea.

I talked to nurses and doctors and observed mothers and relatives visiting the children. I realised that the reasons why these children ended up in burns wards, were often because of absent/incapable parents.  What kind of parents will these children turn out to be -  the never-ending cycle of bad parenting.

I thought national media could/should stop this cycle, by speaking directly to the children, guiding them, helping them where parents could or would not.  The idea of a national newspaper distributed through schools was what I came up with.  (There is not enough access to internet for disadvantaged children, so that is not an option yet.)

I completed a business course, because I thought it would give met the tools to make a difference in the lives of future generations of children. 

Research for a children's newspaper

I arranged a focus group with three participating schools at

Herschel, sent out questionnaires to various schools and interviewed learners and

counsellors at a Lifeline/childline camp at Zeekoevlei (there were 45 learners from

schools around the Cape Flats.) I attended Newspapers in Education Sustainability

worshops at the Argus and the four-day 60^thWorld Newspaper Congress at the CTICC.  

I organised meetings with a British children’s newspaper editor while she was in SA on

holiday.  She provided very helpful information and eventually became one of my

trustees.

A German media student (Johannes Hilje) helped as an intern during his University holidays. He

interviewed children in Khayelitsha and Delft, did the website construction and design

and organised data into spread sheets.

After talks with Independent Newspapers and Media 24 I realised money will always be the bottom line and a newsapaper like this, will never be able to make money.

I had meetings and obtained endorsement letters from people like Helen Zille, the late Dr Ivan Toms, then executive Director of City Health, Brian Schreuder, the Deputy Director General for Education Planning WCED and Jenny Rault-Smith the then Director: Curriculum Develpment, Kevin Chaplin MD of Ubuntu Foundation, Sean from the Mandela Rhodes Foundation... everyone thought this was fantastic, amazing, necessary... but needed the expertise of the media world. Marianne Thamm freely contributed to a mock-up children's newspaper, so did other busy and amazing journalists.  But... it was not enough.

And now?

What came out of this, was a non-profit trust (www.futurechild.co.za) and the youth section (Young Circle) that I write for the Full Circle Magazine since 2009 (www.fullcirclemag.co.za)

Why Radio as educational medium?

Sarah McNeil of UNLIMITED productions (UK)  believes that in a globalised media environment, radio is the tchnology to span the digital divied. She says, "Far from being consumed, as had often been predicted, into the new technology of digital broadband multimedia of the 1990's, children's and youth radio has emerged as an indentifiable strand in the media of the developing world." (http://www.worldradioforum.org/)

  

It might just be that I had to look back in stead of forward - the radio has been with us for such a long time, I almost forgot about it until Marion Walton asked me why I have not considered it.  About 95% of households in South Africa possess at least one radio. 


I have made contact with experienced Radio in Education specialists as well as radio broadcasting corporations in Botswana and Kenia where radio in education is a reality. I am also very excited about a meeting with Michal Rahfeldt, executive director of The Children's Radio Foundation.  (www.children'sradiofoundation.org) Michal lectured in Social Anthropology and in the Centre for Film and Midai studies at UCT until about 5 years aglo.  He also started the radio production stream at UCT.

 

With help from an Irish political writer

Apart from what I have learnt through research for the Futurechild Trust, (dealing with documentation, selecting and sampling, handling numbers and to some extent quantitative and qualitative audience research, the only other research methods I am familiar with, is interviewing people.

My first research experience was as assistant to the Irish political writer, Padraig

O’Malley (known for award-winning books like Uncivil Wars: Ireland today and Biting at

the Grave.)  He spent some months in South Africa to compile information for his work

“The Heart of Hope”.  Padraig interviewed prominent political role players in South Africa

about the country’s transition from apartheid to democracy.  I met him in 1992 and part

of my job was to make appointments, arrange meetings and make notes during these

meetings with the then still banned ANC and SACP, the AWB, members of parliament

and lesser known political activists at their homes or in pubs.  His research basically

consisted of interviews with the same people over a long period of time – eventually

as long as two decades.

I had to attend meetings and take notes for Padraig to keep.  He never trusted only the

tape-recorder. There were instances in which people did not want  the interview to

be recorded, or where the venue was too noisy (e.g in shebeens in Alexandra.)

My own radio experience

I present Kaapse Dagboek for Fmr 101.3 , which involves interviewing people about art, music
and drama. I absolutely love it and gain valuable experience in the art of questioning people!  I
also read and often edit the news on Monday mornings for Fmr - the greatest radio station in
Africa because it provides calm in the chaos!