street children's Radio Timoun in Port-au-Prince, Haiti FWD

Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Sat, 17 Jan 1998 12:35:24 -0800 (PST) 

FWD from: http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/special/radyo-timoun/lyn.html
See also:  http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/special/radyo-timoun/

CHILDREN'S RADIO STATION GIVES VOICE TO HAITI'S FUTURE by Lyn Duff

PORT-AU-PRINCE: "You're listening to Radyo Timoun, Port-au-Prince, Haiti."

With those words, the first children's radio station in Haiti went on the
air in early January [1996]. In a country where 40% of the population is
under 15, Radyo Timoun -- Creole for "Children's Radio" -- calls itself
"the voice of Haiti's future."

Started by a group of street children from the Lafanmi Selavi orphanage,
the radio station is funded by private donations and supported by President
Aristide. It gives kids a say in politics at a time when the Haitian press
is enjoying new freedoms. With some 85% of Haitians illiterate radio is the
medium with its finger on the pulse of the population. (Even President
Aristide
spends his evenings listening to call-in shows.)

Lafanmi Selavi (which means "the family is life"), home to 150 street boys
ranging in age from four to 15, was started in 1986 by Aristide, before the
military coup that deposed him in 1991. During the coup it was firebombed
twice, and four boys and a
staff member died.

Today the boys at Lafanmi Selavi are as politically aware as many three
times their age. Terms like "bourgeoisie" and "International Monetary Fund
restrictions" are tossed around liberally at the radio station, even as
kids weave stories about their personal lives into their political
commentaries.

The young staff are already voicing their opinions on everything from the
new national police force to why school should be free. "We need to be able
to freely elect a government that's non-corrupt," one 12-year-old who came
to the orphanage in December said in a recent broadcast. "That's a
fundamental right, and only a non-corrupt government will prevent the
killings by the army. My family was beaten and raped, and many of us were
murdered in the streets by the Macoutes (the feared paramilitary that ruled
Haiti during the coup d'etat)."

At 3: 30 on a recent afternoon, 12 boys sat in a third-floor office
preparing for one of the daily five p.m. broadcasts. Most spoke French,
Creole, and some English. About half were dressed in blue checked school
uniforms, the other half in dirty, torn street clothes. Several young
people pored over newspapers and notes, writing the news headlines. Two
boys practiced reading a commentary about the poor quality of professional
sports in Haiti, as others brainstormed questions for an interview about
Carnaval. "It's good that we have a voice through the radio," said
15-year-old Ti Sony, "because children really are the future in my country.
And we should be able to tell what we think."

With its lively but unpolished mix of Haitian rap, news, interviews,
commentaries, and live music from the 12-member Lafanmi Selavi rock band,
Radyo Timoun is like nothing you'd hear on National Public Radio. A group
of former street children sing about having "no foundation" from which to
grow, followed by news headlines about UN troops and a recent shooting,
followed by "man on the street" interviews about what kids like about
school, followed by "Dr. Max" discussing health and hygiene, followed by a
commentary about the garbage on the streets of Port-au-Prince.

It's a bit overwhelming at first, but rounded out with a little reggae and
some Michael Bolton, Radyo Timoun gets people to sit up in their chairs and
listen to kids. In a country with more than 250,000 children living on the
street, nothing could be more
urgent.

In one recent commentary, 18-year-old Laronce opened with an intimate
account of his childhood: "I remember when I was living on the streets. My
heart would break when I saw other children going to school and
participating in activities myself and other children living on the streets
could never do. It's humiliating, because people who see you on the streets
treat you like an animal, and you can do nothing to defend yourself.
Instead you just feel very sad, and the sadness never leaves you."

Then he shifted seamlessly to a discussion of politics: "We need laws to
force the government to take care of these children. They have a right to
live a life like children who have parents. I would like other street
children to have the chance to become the man I am today. I say this in the
hopes that children in all countries can live."

"Think what it would have been like if we had had a radio station during
the coup d'etat," Laronce says off the air. "Children see and understand
more than adults do and our voice is more sincere. If we had been able to
speak, the world would have listened, and fewer of us would have died."

YO! (Youth Outlook), 450 Mission Street, Room 204, San Francisco, CA 94105,
tel: (415) 243-4364. <http://www.pacificnews.org/yo/>
Nell Bernstein, editor <yo@pacificnews.org>

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