NETHERLANDS: Media activists train local children to produce a TV talkshow from a South African ghetto

Record ID: 454414

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Media activists train local children to produce a TV talkshow from a South African ghetto
  • Date: 22nd November 2008
  • Summary: (L!1) AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (NOVEMBER 20, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English), HISHAM SAMIE, YOUTH MEDIA MOVEMENT, SAYING: "The talk show is for the Mitchell's Plain people, that's an opportunity for the people to voice their opinions, to voice their struggles and their views, also more important is to be heard."
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA6J2TC9OWYPDU17MDJSINCX6T4
  • Story Text: Amsterdam based filmmakers and Capetown media activists are creating a televised talk-show to tackle social change in South African ghetto.
    Amsterdam based filmmakers Godmother Foundation in partnership with Cape Town's media activists Youth Media Movement are creating a televised talk-show to tackle social change in South African ghetto. Focused on the Cape Town's "coloured" township of Mitchell's Plain, the aim of the project is to empower the ghetto citizens through media access and training.
    Conceived as a "model township" by the apartheid government, Mitchell's Plain was built during the 1970s to provide housing for coloured victims of forced removal due to the implementation of the Group Areas Act. It brought together people from over 250 different communities, all working class coloureds, who would have to travel to places of industry to work for whites.
    Erected to house the middle income group, parts of it quickly deteriorated into 'urban ghettoes' - ready-made slums erected by former apartheid rulers to separate whites from other race citizens. Maude Nelson helps working in the community and sees how young people have no opportunities for any skills development except crime.
    "There is no skills development around here for our youth, so that leaded them into trouble, they get involved with drugs. Tic is the most popular within Mitchell's Plain," Maude said.
    Though Mitchell's Plain is no longer officially a "coloured township", the residents remain overwhelmingly coloured. Mitchell's Plain is now one of fifteen areas in South Africa identified as high priority for action against crime and drug abuse, renowned for its gangsterism and 'tik' addiction amongst its youth.
    Media Youth Movement is a local group of youngsters who are determined to give a voice to Mitchell's Plain by developing the skills of television and filmmaking.
    Dutch based partners Godmother Foundation have raised fundings and are bringingt professionals to train local teenagers and prepare them for the making of the talkshow by the end of February 2009, when the first episode is to be broadcasted on a Capetown TV.
    "The talk show is for the Mitchell'sPlain people, that's an opportunity for the people to voice their opinions, to voice their struggles and their views, also more important is to be heard," Hisham(21) of Youth Media Movement said to Reuters while he was visiting his Amsterdam partners.
    Preliminary workshops are organized to teach the school children the basics of documentary production: research, narrative and interview; planning and production; digital cinematography; sound recording and editing. Three schools in Mitchell Plain will choose 30 children most suitable and willing to work on the talkshow production.
    "That's why we came about, to start it, so we can actually document our own stuff, tell our own story and make sure that broadcasters listen to our voice," Marshall Nelson of Youth Media Movement said during one of preliminary trainings in Mitchell Plain.
    If all goes well with the talkshow, Youth Media Development Center will be set up. The Centre will coordinate a long term training program and will build a multimedia library, whose resources will be available to all the community members.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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