- Title: KENYA/SOMALIA: Soap opera teaching people how to promote peace
- Date: 15th October 2002
- Summary: MCU (English) SCRIPTWRITER, NASRA AWEIS ABUBAKAR, SAYING: "Like maybe we had a character called Abdi Fainos who had looted from people, had grabbed, you know houses people's wealth. And he's so wealthy and everybody who is bad is like called Abdi Fainos, so we feel that the people are identifying themselves with what's happening in Haama Dhawr, in the village that we have
- Embargoed: 30th October 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA/ BELETWEYNE AND LEBOU, SOMALIA
- City:
- Country: Somalia Kenya
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA4N2J8QB5CJLSEEWG6IHG1VRNF
- Story Text: A soap opera called Haama Dhawr is changing the lives of the people in this war torn country by teaching them how to promote peace by providing them with practical examples of how they can help change things in their divided country.
A scene from Somalia's most popular soap opera.
Its characters are from Haama Dhawr - an imaginary Somali village. Since 1998, this village and its antics have kept Somalis glued to their radios.
Members of the project staff make frequent trips into Somalia to gather material for these scripts. So the actors don't have to work too hard to get into character - their lines are very close to home. Which is why the soap's listeners relate so easily to the characters of Haama Dhawr.
"Like maybe we had a character called Abdi Fainos who had looted from people, had grabbed, you know houses people's wealth", says Nasra Aweis Abubakar, a script writer. "And he's so wealthy and everybody who is bad is like called Abdi Fainos, so we feel that the people are identifying themselves with what's happening in Haama Dhawr, in the village that we have created."
Somalia doesn't have the infrastructure to run a project like this. So the show is recorded and edited in Kenya, then broadcast to neighbouring Somalia through the BBC's Somali Service and a few local radio stations in Somalia.
The soap is part of a larger UNESCO-assisted peace initiative. The idea is to promote peace by providing ordinary Somalis with practical examples of how they can help change things in their divided country.
"We are not targeting the politicians and such", Nasra Aweis Abubakar says. "And we are out there to work with any sort of authority that is in place wherever we go."
This is Lebou village in central Somalia. Every day the villagers take time off their chores to wait for Hundubeye and Saida, peace promoters from the nearby town of Beletweyne.
They've brought a radio and audio cassettes containing the latest account of the goings on in Haama Dhawr.
After the programme, everybody gets a chance to say what they thought about it. The feedback is recorded and used as background in plotting future episodes.
Arabo Omar makes a living in Lebou by weaving reed baskets. She has four children and is pregnant with her fifth.
Her husband works as a builder in a nearby town. They live from hand to mouth, but still she considers herself lucky.
"The programme tells us to stop encouraging our men to go fight in the civil war, says Arabo Omar."It says never to marry a brave man; he'll go out to fight and die, and leaves you alone with your children. It's true."
Mohammed Hundubeye, the local project officer, is determined to cut off the popular support warlords enjoy in their communities.
"It's very important that to encourage the community people to become peace promoters that will make sure in the future, that the warlords will not have a more support from community people", Hundubeye said.
Dusk falls over the central Somali town of Beletweyne.
The peace promoters come together to listen to the result of their fieldwork. These women are also wives and needed special permission to be out so late. But this is a new breed of Somali woman. They broke away from the traditional mould to become peace promoters, after listening to Haama Dhawr's strong female characters.
"We tired, you know, says peace promoter, Ayan Abdi.
"Waiting for a result, we tired of waiting for a government or a lasting peace solution, and we feel that it is our role to promote peace. We are not leaders, you know. I hope that through this approach, we will reach long and lasting peace."
For the past decade, Somalis have known only war and anarchy. Maybe when these children grow up, they won't have to rely on an imaginary village to learn about peace. Maybe by then, they will be experiencing it for themselves. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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