Paddy Roberts | December 12, 2014
Principle Edimon Fama is a 27-year-old broadcaster who works for Radio West in Mbarara, a station in western Uganda which reaches nearly half of the country. He is the producer, planner and presenter of the station’s farming programs.
Principle Edimon Fama interviewing farmer Babra Ndahendekire.
Mr. Fama was born into a farming family in Ibanda district, and is the second oldest of eight children. He completed secondary school, then studied journalism and mass communication at the Makerere Institute for Social Development in Kampala, graduating in 2010.
He started his broadcasting career while still in secondary school. In 2006, Rwenzori FM’s radio presenter, KK da Best, regularly visited Mr. Fama’s school to record student voices for his show, Weekend Special. Mr. Fama became a regular “guest” and was invited to the station for training. After a month as a sidekick, he began presenting Weekend Special single-handed!
Shortly after he joined Radio West in 2010, Mr. Fama suggested that the station start a farming program. The station has a strong commitment to educational programming and welcomed the idea enthusiastically.
Radio West broadcasts two daily farming programs. One is Biruga omututu, which means “Sweat” in English. Mr. Fama explains: “In this program, we remind farmers that before everything good, they must sweat, work hard and be patient in whatever they are doing.” The show airs every day at 12:15 p.m.
The second program is Mpa omuganda, meaning “Give me peace,” and airs every day at 7:45 a.m. This program airs stories about successful farmers, in an effort to inspire those just getting into agriculture to succeed by loving what they do.
Mr. Fama says, “Many people say I am young, and ask why I am doing such a program. I tell them my future will be supported by what I am doing now. ”
The station gave Mr. Fama control of the agriculture department. He develops scripts and plans content for the farming programs. He visits farmers in their fields and interviews them about the issues of the day. Before the shows are broadcast, Mr. Fama edits the interviews, arranges the live guests and organizes phone-ins.
Edimon Principle broadcasting during My Children radio programme on Radio West.
Radio West reaches out to the “person on the street” or, for its agricultural programming, “the person in the field.” The station provides listeners with a forum to debate current issues and discuss innovations and challenges. Radio West is a talk-based community radio and its programming is local and educational. With its transmitter and relay stations, Radio West reaches the largest listening audience in western Uganda. The station focuses on and promotes local cultures by using the “4R” languages: Runyankole, Rukiga, Runyoro, and Rutooro.
Radio West broadcast Farm Radio International’s drama series My Children, which promoted the nutritional and financial benefits of eating and growing vitamin-A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Mr. Fama says, “First of all, farmers could not believe that a farming program can be a drama. But they were surprised after hearing it that they could get informed and educated – and entertained.”
He continues: “Another thing that was interesting about My Children was that it gave farmers a chance to interact through SMS and phone-ins. Some of the characters were good: the drama was acted in our local languages, so people followed it until the end. They enjoyed it as much as they enjoy our daily programs.”
Mr. Fama says: “I want to advise my fellow broadcasters that you need to love something before you start it. Me, I loved broadcasting before I studied it. Make sure you practice what you teach, and become a practical role model.”