When Radio Kergheamahn reporter Chester Dolo decided to tackle the taboo subject of female genital cutting (FGC) – also known as circumcision or mutilation (FGM) – he became the first reporter at his radio station in northcentral Liberia to talk on-air about FGC. Other reporters warned him against it. He was nervous, and even a bit scared. Most women refused to speak with him. It took courage and determination because this traditional practice is deeply-entrenched in the ‘secret societies’ of this West African country.

Chester Dolo receives first place at jhr’s Liberia Human Rights Reporters Awards

To report on this sensitive and secretive practice, Chester had to grapple with his own beliefs in witchcraft.

Chester describes the challenges in this audio feature:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

For more, read a Q & A by jhr trainer and journalist Bonnie Allen with Chester Dolo.

Q: First, introduce yourself and explain why you decided to do this documentary.

A: I’m Chester Dolo. I’m 22 years of age. I presently work at Radio Kergheamahn. Ganta, Nimba County, Liberia. I work as a journalist and I’m doing a story on FGM. FGM is simply Female Genital Mutilation or circumcision. I decided to do this story because this is one of the traditional practices that is taking place in this part of the country. Liberia has signed an agreement with the international community to ban FGM totally, but yet Liberia has not yet signed that law [nationally] to reenforce [abolishing] the practice.

Q: Why don’t journalists in Liberia report on female genital circumcision?

A: For me, at this age, I feel very scared because this issue of FGM is a very sensitive topic or issue in Liberia. This issue is never spoken about. People say that it is a taboo. People who go through that process, it is an agreement amongst those people, before they could come outside [leave the bush school], an agreement that if they go out, there should be no one to talk about it. And even if you are not part of it, you are not allowed to talk. Sometimes, if you talk about it, we have witnessed so many instances where people who talk about this female genital mutilation, they have been witched.

Q: Witched?

A: Yeah, witched – witchcraft. for example, they use juju as we call it in our setting.

Even presently as I speak, I feel very much threatened, I can say. One of the persons I interviewed, she later phoned me, telling me that I shouldn’t disclose her name because she feels very afraid. So even for me, as I speak, doing a story on this I feel my life is not even secure.

Q: So why take the risk?

A: I care about it because it is one of the violations of rights of women. Some people’s children are taken – from the age 5 and upwards – to be circumcised. I feel it against the rights of the children.

Q: Do you think you are brave for reporting on this story?

A: [laughs] I’m not too brave. Yes. Practically, I’m not too brave. But it would be very much difficult to go in the deep rural areas where these practices are well practiced. If you go in the rural areas to actually interview, it would be difficult. If you are not careful, you will even lose your life. Because the real people who go through this process, the real people who are doing this thing, have lots of demonic attitudes. They have lots of things in their hand [powers], that if you are not careful they will witch you.

Q: Do you actually believe someone could harm you with witchcraft?

A: For our setting, for our African setting, there are so many things that people do. People transform themselves into so many things to hurt other people. So witchcraft as a whole, most people believe it in Liberia, and even myself, I believe it.

Q: What reaction have you received from other journalists, or women?

A: Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this. Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this because it is the tradition of the people. Some are also saying people, the western world, wants to impose, or wants to get rid of the culture of the people in Africa so they are using so many reasons, so many strategies to get the culture of people out. And which they are saying FGM is one of the cultures of the people in Africa. So doing a story on this is is denying people of their culture.

Q: How do you feel about that?

A: For me, my thought is, as a journalist, we are to do, is to report on fact. To report on issues not because it is an African issue or an American issue.

——–

Author: Bonnie Allen
Source: jhr
Original Publication Date: Jan. 22, 2010

Children watch as blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe saws through a board at his outdoor workshop in Buchanan, Liberia.

Blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe laughs as he shaves the rough side of a board with his plane tool.

jhr trained journalist Emmanuel Wheinyue is a winner of the “Good News for Africa” competition. The International Federation of Red Cross awarded Emmanuel for covering positive developments in Africa and is providing him with a free trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cover humanitarian issues. Emmanuel’s story focuses on a blind carpenter in Buchanan, Liberia. He was assisted by jhr overseas trainer Grant Fuller. Click on the link below to listen to the award winning broadcast.

Click here to listen!

Radio Kergheamahn Joseph Kerkulah explores why pregnant women in northern Liberia are dying at such a high rate. Liberia has one of the worst records in the world for pregnant women dying due to complications arising during pregnancy or childbirth. Kerkulah and jhr trainer Bonnie Allen travel to a rural village that does not have a medical clinic to interview midwives, pregnant women, and the families of women who died. The team discovers access to healthcare is particularly difficult during rainy season.

AIRED: First aired July 28, 2009. It was featured on a program called “Healthy Body.” It has since re-aired three times. Furthermore, an extended interview with Maternity Ward Supervisor Comfort Neufville also aired twice.

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jhr trainer remarks:
There are several successes in this piece. The reporter Joseph Kerkulah interviewed ordinary women who have never had the chance to speak out before. Normally, he avoids interviewing Liberians who speak a local dialect, such as Kpelle, because his program is in English. I showed him that we cannot discriminate against people due to language, and demonstrated how to translate interviews and edit clips with English voice-over. He also, for the first time, used natural sound in a radio item.

What is happening to the principle of the rule of law?

Could it be said to be losing its core principles?

Many pundits have argued that instant killing of suspected criminals is a gross abuse of fundamental human rights.

Click here to listen.

“It’s 8 o’clock in the morning and Rebecca Churchill is starting her rounds of the malarial ward here at the General Hospital in Accra. Churchill is a senior staff nurse and a midwife. She says hundred of people walk through the doors of the hospital each day. The most common problem they present is Malaria and she says the numbers are growing…”

Click on the link below to listen to the full broadcast:

Malaria taking toll on children. Joy FM (Ghana)

Photography credits:
Vivian

Kumba Kamara stranded on the side of her house.

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It seems nothing galvanizes us more than the state of our health care. Wherever we live in Canada, and in North America , we find the system wanting. But it is a system most can only dream about.

In Sierra Leone, it is often a struggle just to stay alive. Here most people don’t have access to proper health care so they go without, or rely on traditional medicine to heal the sick and wounded. In today’s installment of ‘Postcards from Sierra Leone’, Rachael Borlase learns how some of world’s poorest patients are being treated.

jhr Trainer, Rachael Borlase, worked on a six-part series about life and work in Sierra Leone. Her adventures and reflections were broadcasted on CBC Radio throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.