The town that is gradually climbing the stairs of urbanization with more paved roads and growing market, however, still follows the traditional way of life prevalent with discriminatory and superstitious practices. [break]
Women empowerment and fight against the discrimination of scheduled castes has been a constant social struggle in Parbat, according to the Naari Utthan Samaj, a local NGO of the district.
One of the ways to battle against it was through an empowered media, and Radio Didi Bahini was conceptualized to take on that role.
Marking the occasion of the International Women’s Day on March 8, 2010, Radio Didi Bahini took its first step in becoming the foremost radio station of the district.
The community radio set off with a grand inauguration ceremony with several local and national women leaders gathered to support the radio’s vision to “create an inclusive society where everyone’s voice is heard.”
Besides, this was also a platform for the women of the community to prove themselves.
“In a society where women are still discriminated against and don’t have as much opportunities, running the entire radio station was like a trial for us to test how far we could go if provided with one,” says Kalpana Chapagain, chairperson at the station and a member of Naari Utthan Samaj. “Though we’re still struggling to become financially strong, the young women at our station are trying to set a good example of an entirely women-run organization.”
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Belying her age, Yojana Sharma, at 21, is the station manager at the radio. Besides managing the reporters, presenters, staff and the entire station, Yojana also hosts four shows a day.
Bringing her two years of experience from Dhaulagiri FM in Baglung, she now starts her day at 5:30 o’clock in the morning by reading the daily morning news for Radio Didi Bahini which she joined one year ago. Her last program for the day ends at 10 pm.
However, her shift doesn’t end until the radio comes to a close for the day at 11 pm.
Working odd hours with minimal wages, about Rs 4,000 a month, and striving to become successful radio journalists didn’t prove to be a task that everyone could take on. And so the station, which had started off with a team of 27 young women, now has only 15 left.
With most of the staff members, from radio presenters to technicians and marketing executives in the age group of 18-25 and still pursuing their studies, these women juggle their schedules to keep the radio running.
Yet with all the hard work that they put in, their skills and capabilities were put to question many times.
“Technical errors occur in every station at times. But when it happened at ours, people would say it was because ours was a women’s radio,” says Yojana. “When even the educated people in the society took our effort as a joke and tried to prove us incapable, we felt bad but never discouraged.”
Comparisons with male-run organizations were always an issue during their starting period.
Twenty-year-old Sangita Chapagain, one of the two technicians at the radio station, shares an incident when their transmitter was damaged due to a storm, and she had to take the heavy transmitter all the way to Kathmandu, get it fixed and return the same night, single-handedly.
“At the time, people had started saying all kinds of things about how women just couldn’t run anything properly,” she says and adds, “But within 20 hours, we were on air again. Whereas, when there was a similar problem in another radio station here, they were out of operation for five days.”
A student of business, Sangita shares that working in media has turned out to be a very challenging job, especially working for a newly started one.
“We have to multitask here,” says Sangita. “For instance, I’m not just a technician but I also manage accounts. With less manpower and economic constraints, we take care of almost everything, from reporting on the field and carrying liters of fuel for inverters during power cuts to keeping our office clean.”
Despite the numerous troubles they had to go through and challenges they had to face, Yojana points out that the radio station has come thus far as a result of the sense of unity amongst the team members.
“Even when we were working elsewhere, it was a personal struggle for each of us. However, here, it’s not just an individual thing; we’re struggling as a team for the whole organization.”
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Together, the radio crew has won over their listeners not just with updated local and national news reporting, informative and entertainment programs but also with their local events.
Their Teej Mahotsav and the annual cultural events that promoted the fading local music and traditions were a great hit and well received by the people.
The team is also set on breaking the stereotype of household issues as the only contents for women’s programs.
With their interview-based programs such as Aawaj and Aajako Sandarva that focus on women’s empowerment, community- and national-level development issues, the radio has earned its reputation for dealing with more serious issues.
Kalpana shares that people now have started to look up to the organization; and not just women but men also take Radio Didi Bahini as a reliable media.
“First and foremost, this is a community radio, and we wouldn’t have survived if we didn’t have the community’s support. Moreover, we also made sure that all programs and news contents would serve a purpose to positively influence the community itself.”
They also pride themselves in the fact that besides Yojana and Rima Shahi, both senior technicians at the station, most staff members have been the product of their own organization. According to Kalpana, the radio staffs were either sent to training programs or trained by the organization itself.
Now, broadcast over some 15 districts of Nepal and even online, the radio and its working women are braving up to all odds to make their joint effort a success.
But it isn’t without compromises. Besides the minimal salary of Rs 5,200 starting this month, their work sometimes demands extra time and no day offs.
“Radio never stops. So even during national holidays like Dashain, at least two of us remain at the office airing shows,” says Yojana. “Sometimes, we also do live shows from wherever we may be. A good telephone connection does the trick. This actually has given us chances to diversify our contents and reach out to people beyond Parbat.”
The other major issue having to do odd-hour jobs and being women was security. Yojana says that for part timers, they could manage their time according to their program schedules.
However, as the radio was on air from 5am to 11pm and work often stretched beyond that timing, for some of the staff, including Yojana herself, they turned the station into their second home – sleeping in the living quarters and dining at the canteen.
With no support or financial backing from any organization, the radio station bears all its costs through advertisements from program sponsors. And though still operating in loss, Yojana says that they’ve started to at least bear their monthly operational costs, and with the interest of national advertisers growing, she’s has hopes for better days.
When you look at these young women at Radio Didi Bahini, they look no different from other didi-bahinis of Kushma.
However, on air and at work, their confidence and enthusiasm at such young age strike as something remarkable.
For most of them, working at the station, like Kalpana says, is a trial and a learning experience. Beyond it, these small-town women carry their own big dreams.
For now, though, their shared dream lies in the success of their very own Radio Didi Bahini FM 95.2.
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