As they commenced a three day “Ebola Bye Bye Project Partner Training”, Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT) in collaboration with Culture Radio has donated news gathering and production equipment in the form of laptops, recorders and smartphones and ear phones to some radio journalists in Sierra Leone.
The donation took place recently at the Culture Radio Hall situated at Fort Street in Freetown, during the official opening of the workshop.
The Executive Director of Culture Radio, Elijah Gregra, told Awoko that the donation and the workshop were done in order to capacitate selected radio stations in areas that have not experienced the outbreak of the ebola virus disease. He said it “is the media that can purely educate the public on ebola”, adding that the idea about the media to him is mass education in Africa. He encouraged the participants to appreciate the gifts and the knowledge they will acquire from the workshop.
Sarah Bomkapre Kamara, the producer of Bye Bye Ebola Programme, MiCT in Germany, while presenting the items to the participants said capacitating the media has been her long term dream. She stated that as one who has practiced journalism in the country, she was aware of the constraints journalists are facing while in the field.
She encouraged the participants to use the equipment in order to benefit the people of Sierra Leone. “We do not need ebola in this country”, she maintained. She noted that during the outbreak they who were living overseas were equally affected as they faced stigma in some areas.
She concluded by saying that their hope is to see journalism grow in the country. She called on the participants to keep up the good work.
Participants present said they appreciated the gifts and the knowledge they would acquire during the course of the workshop. They stated that they will ensure to train their colleagues in the various media institutions they were representing.
By Edna Smalle
Friday February 05, 2016
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