Live On Air

It’s interesting for me to see how my service has shaped up. Both in Mali and Kenya, my most significant projects have often been ones I hadn’t given much thought to at first. By thoroughly integrating into the community, opportunities just present themselves in the form of the needs and desires of the community, and the people who I’ve gotten to know. The best way to help is to just go with the flow.

Steve-o, Vincent, and I during our radio spot at Bulala FM Wednesday afternoon.

While preparing for our tree nursery training, Steve-o, the secretary of Mumbaya Youth Group decided to reach out to the media. In rural East Africa, this means the local vernacular language radio station. Bulala FM, the local radio station here in Budalang’i sent one of their on-air presenters, Moses, to attend our two-day training.

Following the training, we were given a one-hour long radio spot from 11AM to 12 PM to discuss the importance of trees, methods and benefits of tree planting in our area, and our work in particular. Steve-o and I decided to tag team the spot, and although at first the length dedicated specifically to us was rather daunting, we had a great time, and were both honestly giddy walking back about how well it went.

Steve-o and I prepared material the night before. We basically followed what we had discussed, but Vincent, the radio presenter, wanted to handle our show in the form of an interview. So he tailored his questions to lead us into our planned material. And Steve-o and I basically split the time equally. Steve-o mainly spoke ‘olunyala’, the local vernacular, while I spoke mostly ‘kiswahili’, with my limited ‘olunyala’ mixed in.

During our introductions, Steve-o took time to discuss our group’s history and work, while I spoke for a while about the Peace Corps and my work in particular, contrasting it with the work of NGOs, emphasizing community integration and collaboration.

We then spoke about why we decided to develop a tree nursery and the training we had received. After covering the overall benefits of tree planting, we explained and discussed the importance of ‘agroforestry technologies’. Agroforestry refers to the integrated approach of planting trees alongside crops and livestock to fully realize the benefits that each component can provide to the others, resulting in increased land productivity year-round.

We specifically discussed using trees as windbreaks in fields and homesteads to prevent damage to crops and buildings, as living fences to protect farms from intrusion by animals, alley cropping which entails planting trees in rows between crops to improve soil fertility, firebreaks involving planting rows of trees which are naturally flame-retardant to prevent the spread of forest fires, as well as forest gardens in which many different types of trees and crops are planted together to get grains, fruits, firewood, animal forage, and timber year-round due to the variety and the natural enrichment of the soil.

Finally, we discussed livestock management, which is an especially important issue in Africa. The predominant form of livestock raising in Africa involves people, often young children and teenagers, herding livestock through fields and forests for hours a day to graze. This practice is bad for the environment, as livestock don’t eat in moderation, but destroy vegetation completely, resulting in loss of vegetation cover, and therefore reduced soil fertility and increased soil erosion. But even more importantly, the practice is inefficient and entirely counterproductive for the farmers themselves.

The hours spent each day herding can instead be better used by the youths or adults in pursuits of education or employment. And wandering in the heat of the sun with little food or water exhausts both people and animals.

Livestock management entails eliminating this wasteful process of herding. Instead, farmers are encouraged to keep their livestock at home in pens. The farmers then cut forage specifically for the animals, feeding them directly. This saves time and energy for people and animals alike, allows more productive pursuits especially for youth, and allows farmers to specifically select species of plants to feed their livestock.

Because animals aren’t picky eaters, they don’t select plants based on nutrition, but only upon what is in front of them. Yet just like us, the best diet is a balanced diet, with an array of protein and vitamins required for health. By adopting this style, remarkably significant gains in animal growth and milk production are generally assured.

During the radio show, we also discussed specific tree species, and I took a good amount of time to push the moringa tree, who’s leaves, seed pods, and roots are all edible and incredibly nutritious, especially useful to children and pregnant women. We took several questions from callers, and in closing, I was able to make an announcement to invite everyone to our World Malaria Day Football Tournament the following day.

Steve-o specifically offered training and tree seeds to any local groups and schools within Bunyala interested in starting their own tree nursery. It is a service that we will offer free as a group, and Trees for the Future will replenish our stock of seeds. Immediately following our show, Steve-o began fielding calls from interested parties. With that offer of service, and our continued work to establish our own nursery, I think I’ve found my cornerstone project during my time in Kenya!

The show was also a great advertisement for our group, and throughout the day people complimented us on our show. A large audience was listening, and now when people think of trees in Bunyala, they’ll think of Mumbaya Youth Group. We hope to also recruit new members into the group as a result.

Vincent enjoyed hosting us, and promised to invite us back to discuss related issues throughout the future. Bulala FM is a community radio station, originally funded by the UN, which alongside standard radio and news programming has a specific mandate for flood mitigation and climate change issues. The presenter explained how our work fits nicely into their mandate, so he would like to partner with us into the future. And with how successful our first show was, I can hardly wait.