Listening to the Drum in Sierra Leone

Every summer, SFCG sends interns to work in its international country offices to gain valuable field experience. Leah Germain is currently working in our Sierra Leone office on projects dealing with media and governance.  Look for further updates from Leah and others about their experiences in the field.

First Impressions

By Leah Germain

Leah at the Talking Drum Studio office

Freetown – I have been in Sierra Leone for less than 24 hours when I arrive at Talking Drum Studio (TDS) and the first thing I notice as I walk into the office, is the air conditioning. The sweet cool breeze blasting from a small white AC is a welcome relief from the hot African sun. Between the heat radiating from the Freetown streets and the thick humidity of the city center, the feeling of cold, manufactured air pleasantly engulfs me. 

TDS’s receptionist, Mariama, greets me with a warm smile. As she tours me through the business office and then onto the studio, I am showered with grins and welcomes from TDS staff, producers and reporters. I struggle to pronounce everyone’s name correctly but the folks at TDS are very patient. They repeat themselves as many times as required for me to attempt a pronunciation, even if it is spoken with a thick Canadian accent.

Whenever I informed people of my summer travel plans, I had repeatedly been asked: “Why?”  And as I made my way from the airport to the country’s capital, I found myself asking the same thing. But upon arriving at the TDS office, I knew the answer because it is impossible not to feel the energy flowing throughout the building. It is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. The staff is excited to be here and so am I. In the short time since my arrival, I’ve already discovered that Talking Drum Studio is both well known and highly respected among Freetown locals.

With offices in Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, Talking Drum Studio has become synonymous with peace and stability in Western Africa. TDS was established by Search for Common Ground in Sierra Leone as a means to harness the power of media and promote peacebuilding and conflict transformation after the country’s civil war. Today, TDS produces radio, video and multi-media programming that acts as a source for social and political commentary by critically examining national issues.

Alimamy Kamara has worked for TDS since 2003. He began as an intern and helped produce the studio’s flagship radio program, Common Ground News.  Today, he produces his own radio show, Wellbodi Challenge – a critical news magazine that examines the country’s recently established free healthcare policy. 

The show has two objectives. The first is to inform citizens of the policy which provides free health care for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five. Sierra Leone has some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates and the policy, implemented in April of this year, is meant to reverse those statistics. Kamara’s Wellbodi Challenge began broadcasting in February, two months before the healthcare reform was passed, so that Sierra Leoneans had a chance to fully understand the new legislation. Now, the show focuses on looking at issues of transparency and accountability following the policy’s implementation. 

Kamara says that like the content heard on Wellbodi, Talking Drum Studio’s other programs have also encouraged critical commentary throughout Sierra Leone. 

“We are very popular,” he says. “When TDS came to Sierra Leone in 2000, the only media that was available was the government media. People did not have the opportunity to have an input. They didn’t have an opportunity to have their voices heard. TDS has given them that opportunity … and this [sentiment] resonates across the country.”

When asked if TDS will continue to be in high demand in coming years, Kamara doesn’t hesitate to answer:  “People are hungry for information and people are hungry for accountability.” And according to Kamara, that is exactly what TDS provides.