New children's radio station offers hope to dump residents
New children's radio station offers hope to dump residents
Franziska Schill, Contributor, Jakarta
Amid the shacks, piles of garbage and millions of flies at the
Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi stands the new home of Radio
Anak Bantar Gebang (Bantar Gebang's children's radio).
While the scavengers at the Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi
live in shacks, the radio station is in a real house complete
with a clean tile floor and white walls.
The rising stench from the mountains of garbage outside does
not enter the house, nor do the flies.
And just as the house stands gleaming amid the shacks, so will
the radio station be a beacon of hope for the children who live
in the area.
Muhammad Dony Prestanto, a social worker with the Homeless
World Foundation said that the idea to set up a radio station
came about because many of the programs of various non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) did not have a direct effect on
children in the area.
"We noticed that funding often goes to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and many times, NGOs have programs that do
not have a direct effect on children's lives here," Dony told The
Jakarta Post.
"So we looked for a program where children can actually get
involved and be a part of its operation. A radio program is well-
suited to that end," he said.
With the idea, chairperson of Netherlands based Homeless World
Foundation Geert Van Asbeck approached professional radio
producers and social workers to launch the children's radio
project in October 2002. It aims to help the children start their
own community radio station.
Unlike other radio stations where children are mere listeners,
at Radio Anak Bantar Gebang, the children will take an active
role in designing and producing the programs, and even running
and owning the station.
"It can help them develop their potential to the fullest. They
will also have a chance to speak their mind and be critical,"
Dony said.
The radio programs range from storytelling and news to sending
personal greetings and songs. Inviting the public to join in the
programs will also be a part of its programming.
The station will also be a suitable media for educating the
children of the area as many of them are not able to attend
school. Many children have to spend a lot of their time helping
their family work at the dump site.
Most children usually spend only a couple of years at school
and when they are old enough, they join their family working at
the dump site.
Located just outside Jakarta's city limits, Bantar Gebang is
the largest dump site in the country, covering 108 hectares. Dony
said there were some 1,500 scavenger families eking out a living
by sorting and sifting through the garbage, while usually making
only Rp 20,000 (US$2.20) a day.
"With the radio station, they can listen to it and learn
something while they are working," Dony explained, adding that
the station was slated to go on air on at the end of April.
Although everything is still at an early stage, the children
are clearly eager about the start of the new radio station. For
three days a week, 16 children will work at the station, being
trained by specialists so that they will not only be familiar
with the equipment, but also learn how to put together a program.
On one particular afternoon, the children seemed curious and
high-spirited to learn how to read the news despite the lack of
equipment to practice on.
"If we have this radio station, we will be smarter because of
all the information," Siti, one of the 16 children in the
workshop, said.
"It is similar to school, but learning gets easier when it is
easy to understand and it's fun," quipped twelve-year-old
Tryanita.
The children will be expected to work one or two hours a day
at the radio station at the beginning. The station could later be
broadcasting as much as eight hours a day over a 20-kilometer
radius.
As the law prohibits children from running or owning a radio
station, Dony said a foundation would be established to manage
the station.
However, like other community radio stations in the country,
its sustainability is in question.
As a nonprofit station, it cannot seek commercial funding. On
the other hand, the station is not backed up by a solid
organization.
"We are still trying to figure out how this station is going
to survive, but we have several options," Dony explained, adding
that the station might work with an NGO in the future to solve
its financial problems.
Dony said the radio would hopefully serve a greater purpose in
the future, that is, bringing together all the dump site
residents who come from various backgrounds.
"The people here are all from different backgrounds so this
area is prone to communal conflicts. The station is hoped to
bring them all together as a community," Dony said.
"In the end, this radio station is not only for the children
but also for the whole community," he said.