Making Things Happen

The context a person is in is a determining factor in what they view might as injustice or acceptable. I feel that it is important to open yourself to other people’s experiences so as to have a sympathetic world view. I’ve learnt to always try to understand people they way they see themselves and in doing so I become less hostile towards the choices they make. This way of thinking gains you access to the way in which people rationalize the choices they make. This philosophy is primarily informed by Ubuntu, and that as humanity we can’t just disregard other people because they’re not of our immediate surroundings. And for the purpose of working in community partnership project of this nature, it is important that you make the effort getting to know the people you’ll be working with. I think there’s an exchange that is going to be experienced from working in this project, I believe that is the main purpose for the partnership we are embarking on. As students we can offer the expertise gained from having studied radio journalism in the last four years. These expertise can then be used to empower and inform the people in the community, especially the youth. For us as students I foresee that we will gain a lot of hands on experience which is something that we can refer back to for years to come in our careers.

 

 

The question before me reads “what assumptions do you have of the people and their community” I want to steer away slightly from the word ‘assumption’. For me it evokes a feeling of being haughty and uniformed, and this isn’t the case in this situation. I sat in on a presentation by a representative of the group of people I’ll be working with and have listened to some material they have produced before. Maybe I haven’t met them but after the presentation and asking enough questions to satisfy my curiosity, I think to a certain degree I am informed about this group of people. The people in question here are Upstarters, a network of high school going youngsters who are presented with the opportunity to participate in a variety of media-based programmers. The community they come from is disadvantaged and isn’t able to award its youth the resources and opportunities that a typical middle class community would. And end result of this partnership is a radio program produced for and by the youth which they’d be able to sustain well into the future.

 

 

To answer the question posed above I prefer to use the word ‘expectations’. This word for me is more appropriate. My expectations of the young Upstarters are informed by the background I’ve immersed myself in thus far. These are high school teenagers and so it is invariably expected that they’ll be energetic and excited to learn skills that will make them cooler amongst their peers. But coupled with excitement is the overbearing power to not want to pay attention, which is where my management skills will have to come in. Not only manage and channeling their energies towards the task at hand. But also logistics and time management. And from what I’ve read and heard this has been a crucial stumbling block for this project. My main worry about this partnership is if the Upstarters will be able to honour the time commitment it will take to produce the radio show, this is simply because juggling high school and extra mural activities might be a challenging for them.

 

 

This partnership aims to serve the school going youth of Grahamstown and to a certain extent the community at large. I believe this community needs a platform to raise and discuss issues that are pertinent to them. And if such a platform is provided for them then the relevant people can/will hear what their grievances are. Such a platform can also be used to share knowledge and to celebrate achievements within the community. As a radio student I have been able to gain some expertise in producing audio journalism that can capture and highlight issues that are significant to this community and these are skills I wish to impart.

From this project and mainly through this course there is huge deal about professionalism that I am expecting to learn. Linked to professionalism will be the skill of being able to manage a multifaceted project, making sure that all the different elements not only complement each other but come together to produce a well-rounded radio programme. It will be important for this kind of project that as radio students we are able to equip Upstarters so that their radio show, Yung Amplified, is a sustainable project. This will primarily rely in the manner in which we conceptualize and frame the show and the kind of skills we will relay to the young Upstarters. To achieve this I’ll need to be creative in the way I choose to do things and I feel the project will challenge me in this regard. The course will be an opportunity to learn how to conduct and maintain a professional relationship with my colleagues.I’ll be working in a team of four, for the partnership to work from our side, we will need to work as a unit and always consolidate our ideas so that they complement our goal for the partnership.