Vuka Vuma Vax! Its a part of life!
Community journalists share their experiences reporting on the ongoing pandemic and the vaccination conversation
From vaccine hesitancy to herd immunity, variants to boosters, COVID-19 to measles – there’s a lot to the vaccination conversation in South Africa.
A partnership between UNICEF South Africa and Vuselela Media has been training young community journalists to report on the day-to-day vaccination discussion and surface the stories that move it forward.
Participating community radio stations:
KwaZulu Natal: Underground Radio; Nongoma FM; Nkandla FM; Nqubeka FM
Eastern Cape: UCR; Lukhanji FM; Nkqubela FM
Western Cape: Radio KC
Northern Cape: Ncokola FM
North West: Radio Mafisa
Free State: Dihlabeng FM
Mpumalanga: BCR; Ligwa FM
Gauteng: Hope FM; Alex FM
Limpopo: Sekhukhune FM
The project forms part of UNICEF South Africa’s support to the National Department of Health in South Africa to accelerate uptake of COVID-19 vaccination as well as routine immunisation and healthcare services in priority areas.
Each community journalist received technical training in recording and editing their hyperlocal audio stories and how to produce stories in a variety of formats including drama, montage and testimonials.
Stories are broadcast on 16 community radio stations, located in districts where uptake of COVID-19 and other vaccines are low, and provide important information that debunks myths and responds to fears.
Matsoarelo, Sikelela, Bukho and Llyle are four of the 32 community journalists who took part in the training and produced their own radio stories. These are their reflections.
Matsoarelo Makuke | Alex FM | Johannesburg
My name is Matsoarelo Makuke and I represented Alex FM in the Vuka Vuma Vax campaign with UNICEF South Africa. As a community journalist, the experience has been awesome. It provided me with an opportunity to work on my skills and tackling questions and how to handle situations when interviewees go out of context.
Engaging with different people of Alexandra to find out their thoughts on the pandemic was one of the best parts of the campaign.
However, it was clear that most people are still in the dark about vaccinations in general. I believe that more campaigns, activations, and initiatives that engage with people should be done regularly.
One of my favourite aspects of this campaign was editing my audio after recording them on the ground and putting together vox pops into one magical and amazing audio clip. Having my clips selected for broadcast on different radio stations was a rewarding experience that pushed me to excel.
I also want to express my appreciation to our mentor Juju Senyatsi. She was patient and supportive throughout the whole campaign, and her encouragement motivated us to perform to the best of our abilities. With her help, my colleague Ntombi and I even won the Most Promising Reporters award in the first round of the Vuka Vuma Vax campaign.
During our daily zoom sessions, I learned a lot and enjoyed sharing ideas on how each of us would approach our singles and wrappers. Finally, meeting all the different community journalists from other provinces was a great experience, and I would jump at the opportunity to participate in this campaign again without hesitation.
Sikelela Rollom | Nkqubela FM | Gqeberha
It has been an absolute pleasure for me to represent Nkqubela FM, a community radio station in Gqeberha, for the Vuka Vuma Vax campaign. Through this campaign I had the opportunity to tell the vaccination stories of the people in my community.
The first thing I learned during the training conducted by Mr Mthoba Chapi is the power of using a smartphone to tell a story. The training equipped me and fellow community journalists with skills to produce great audio quality stories and edit them.
I learnt about all the different radio formats such as interviews, report, montage and many more that fall under the singles and wrapper format categories. During the training, I was also taught how to approach important sources – such as nurses and doctors – to receive accurate information regarding vaccinations. My favourite part of the training sessions was receiving feedback and being told what I should fix on my work. And also, being complimented for my improvement and great work!
The recording process of people in my community was exciting and challenging at the same time. Some people were willing to talk to me and share their negative and positive stories regarding vaccinations while others were hesitant about getting involved in a conversation about vaccines.
During this campaign, I got to realise my passion for telling stories as I enjoyed listening and interacting with people and finding out what their thoughts were regarding the safety of vaccinations.
My final thought about the campaign is that it has been beneficial to my community. Many of the people I had spoken to appreciated how I explained what measles and COVID-19 are, as they said that they were not informed about it or only partly informed about these infectious diseases. Personally, the campaign has given me a great start to the field of journalism and I am hoping to tell more stories, grow and become a better journalist in the industry.
Bukho Ndamase | UCR FM | Mthatha
There's a piece of writing that says, "life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself".
My name is Bukho Ndamse from Mthatha, representing UCR FM. Throughout the training I felt that I was creating myself.
In the past months I have learnt so much during the training. I went from knowing what exactly a vaccine is, and what the myths about the COVID-19 vaccine are to knowing why it is important that people should get the vaccine.
I must be honest, before this campaign I did not really care about vaccines but through this whole time I found a reason why I should encourage my loved ones and people close to me to vaccinate.
I learnt so much about editing and cutting a long audio by looking for important factors in it to make it short. I learnt the importance of sticking to time because the audios have to be just three minutes and as much as the person you will record will have so much to say, not all of it will be relevant and you must stick to the time. For me that's important especially because I'm a radio presenter and the training and campaign have helped me with my shows to stick to time.
My editing skills have also improved. At first bandlab was hard to use but I finally got the hang of it. I'm now recognized in my community by my peers and people as a journalist because of this campaign.
This campaign taught me to not be selfish, it taught me that not everyone will win but it's always important to clap and be happy for those who have made it, it was an amazing journey. I'm so proud of myself, my family is proud of me, thank you so much Vuselela Media and UNICEF South Africa.
Llyle Jefferies | Radio K | Cape Town
VUKA VUMA Vax, the campaign that brought together 32 strangers and had them leave as friends. An eventful and knowledge filled campaign aiding the youth and helping spread the word on today's health issues.
The first day we all met on Zoom, a screen filled with happy faces and smiles to be all taught by an excellent lecturer, Mthoba Chapi, a man of focus and exceptional teaching.
For the following weeks we then continued to learn about various radio formats, how to edit, which techniques to use and how to gather information. All aimed at the goal of becoming a better radio journalist.
From submission to submission, each of us left with another thing learnt, benefiting us until the end of the program.
At the end of the program a rewards ceremony was held in Johannesburg. Truly a treat from the organizers. After enjoying a fun and entertaining weekend, prizes were handed out. We all had to unfortunately say our goodbyes.
But not too long until we heard the great news of the program extension. Everyone was filled with joy to be on Zoom again and hearing everyone's voices and to be learning.
Being a part of the VUKA VUMA Vax campaign was truly an exceptional experience and was a great opportunity for all of us!
