Now Broadcasting Where No Other News Can Go

"We have been very, very important to this campaign," says Chris Keijouh, who manages one of 18 community radio stations founded by Mercy Corps. The stations represent the sole source of information for many listeners. Photo: Dan Sadowsky/Mercy Corps

Of the 193 countries in this world, perhaps none is more dysfunctional, impoverished and wretched than Liberia, a nation of three million people on the west coast of Africa.

Even the country's beachfront capital, Monrovia, lacks basic services like water, electricity and sanitation. This is a nation still reeling from a 14-year civil war, which forced tens of thousands to flee their villages and left an entire generation of young people uneducated. Moreover, a longstanding tradition of corruption and thievery has turned Liberia's lucrative natural resources - timber, ore and diamonds, in particular - into personal piggy banks for well-placed bureaucrats, leaving most Liberians among the poorest people on earth.

In spite of all this, Chris Keijouh is hopeful for his country's future.

I met Chris in the bustling market town of Kakata a couple of weeks before 1 million Liberians cast their vote for the nation's first post-war president. Like many Liberians tired of war, poverty and despair, Chris, a buoyant 31-year-old, saw the election as a chance for the nation to build a better future out of the ashes of war. And he, as the director of Kakata's new community radio station, faced the challenge of helping ordinary Liberians understand this high-stakes ballot.

Not long ago, Chris could only dream of hearing a radio station in Kakata, much less having the chance to run one. His town was in a black hole as far as media was concerned; it was too far from Monrovia to receive a clear signal from of the handful of radio stations based there. (Newspapers are fairly useless in a country where four out of every five people can't read; televisions are rare and lack local programming.) As a result, townspeople too often formed opinions based on rumor, which people here cite as one of the main reasons for the war itself.

In those days, Chris and some of his buddies dabbled in broadcasting by hooking up a tape player to a cheap, low-power transmitter, which didn't send the tunes more than a mile or two. "We wanted to serve the community, but we didn't have any technical skills, and we didn't have good equipment," Chris explained. Nor did they have the money, and, in a country whose retail sector consists largely of stalls made from bamboo poles and palm fronds, there was simply no advertising base for commercial radio.

His fortunes turned two years ago, when Mercy Corps, as part of its work to strengthen communities, helped launch two dozen community stations around the country. Agency staff helped Chris and several other amateur radio experts in the area form an FM station, Radio Kakata. The agency provided them with around $20,000 worth of transmitters, antennas, laptops, digital voice recorders, studio renovations and trainings, and helped fill airtime by producing two hours of dramas, news shows and public-service announcements each week.

As a result, Chris and his team of two dozen volunteers -- editors, programmers, newscasters, reporters, technicians and deejays -- have spread information about the historic ballot. Three times a week, listeners to Radio Kakata's election show got the chance to hear and question two presidential aspirants and all but three of the district's congressional candidates. The station's half-dozen reporters spent the bulk of their time covering campaign rallies, election-related news conferences and candidate visits. In the run-up to the election, political news dominated the station's three daily newscasts, including a 30-minute broadcast at 9 p.m., the time slot when listenership is considered highest.

"We have been very, very important to this campaign," Chris told me proudly. "We have been educating people on how to vote and on their role in these elections."

Information, as they say, is power, and today many Liberians see radio as a liberating force for an illiterate society that has been taken advantage of by corrupt and bloodthirsty leaders.

After two rounds of voting, Liberia elected a president last week -- Africa's first female leader. Hopes are high that she can lead Liberia out of its abysmal state. A well-informed citizenry will surely help. Thanks in part to Mercy Corps, Chris and his cadre of dedicated broadcasters will do their part.