Tikuferanji – the sky rocket for change

By their nature wars are terrifying and can be a scaring lot: lives are lost, survivors get displaced, property gets damaged and so is infrastructure the aftermath can be costly…

Whereas military wars would disperse and displace people ADRA MALAWI’s media combat converges and places them together for some behavioral change mitigation.

Unlike with war-zones the ADRA battle-field is civilian – dramatists, comedians or folk-tellers spearheading behavioral change through drama.

Discussing such issues like promiscuity, voluntary blood testing even encouraging unmarried couples to have their blood tested before wedlock sometimes sound misplaced as many regard these as private issues.

However, this is a fight ADRA MALAWI has braved – changing the world-view.

And when it recently took its Tikuferanji drama series to two of the country’s central province districts of Ntchisi and Salima not only was the turn-out encouraging but so was the audiences’ reaction.

With Salima district rated as one with the highest HIV-Aids prevalence areas the media content in the drama series was befitting as the sequel thoroughly addressed the three issues to the audiences’ acceptance.

Senior village headwoman Che Nyama hailed the organisation for the video shows saying such initiative complemented very well efforts she was fostering in her area for her subordinates to go for VCT.

“Am particularly happy for such video shows as an intervention measure you could see for yourself the way those dramatists articulated issues and how the audience responded.

“Drama and video drama in particular can be good weaponry to fighting people’s risky behaviors,” said the senior chief.

Echoing the senior chief Ntchisi district youth officer Jesse Mwansambo hailed the video show-initiative as an effective tool of communicating to masses especially in the very remotest areas where rurals do not have access to such forms of media.

ADRA MALAWI regularly conducts video shows in remote areas which have limited access to television either due to inaccessibility of electricity or lack of the gadget itself.

Author: Tamanda Matebule