Did Somebody Say This Would Be Easy?

You might recall my last post about a success story featuring Layata Issa-Haque. Her position at the station the secretary. She is the one of the only staff members at the station that was not given a motorbike for transportation and she is the only person at the station that is required to work seven days a week. She has even been denied time off for funerals, one of which was her Grandmother's.

While she spends most of her time occupied with secretarial duties, she often finds herself in the on-air studio in the afternoon. This is because the programmer scheduled for that shift misses work a couple times a week.

Listening to those fill-in shifts you may notice two things: some smooth R&B music and no presenter voice over the airwaves...not even to read the advertisements. The reason for this is that Layata has repeatedly been discouraged and condemed for going on-air during that shift. Though she has also been questioned about why she is not reading the advertisements, she has reminded those questioning her about their instructions and condemnations ordering her not to go on -air.

Being that she is my neighbour, that we take a taxi together almost everyday, that she helped me to find a great place to live when I was searching for housing in Tamale, and that I hang out with her and her sister most evenings, I have gotten to know her quite well.

I have seen that she is exceptionally intelligent and has a natural talent for 'connecting the dots'. It also interested me that even when her taxi fare to and from work was taking almost all of her salary, she continued to work so that she would have something to do and feel useful. I have come to notice that she is always interested in reading what I am reading, and she quickly finishes all of what I give her to work on.

When we re-launched "Freedom Thursdays" at Radio Justice, and I was thinking of who would be hosting the show, Layata made the most sense to me. She is the only person that keeps every appointment that we make, completes every assignment that she is given, and takes great initiatve in improving whatever it is that we are working on. Her hunger to grow and develop, compared to what it would take to get others to participate consistently is a stark contrast.

After doing the show for a few weeks, I ended up in the hospital due to malaria. With a show to prepare in a few days, she came to meet with me after work to discuss the plans for the show, to review her interview questions, and to discuss the show for the next week.

She is now sourcing out stories, doing research, diligently following leads, hosting the show, and even reviewing show tapes to improve. All of this at a station that often prefers to rely on the broadcast from Joy FM and the BBC, as well as articles from www.ghanaweb.com as the meat of the news, rather than searching out stories and following up on plans and ideas.

That is why a recent meeting with station management troubled me so deeply. I was told that "the brother of the cheif executive" and some other random visitor to the station complained about Layata's performance on-air. I was then told that if I wanted to do training, it would have to be off-air so that I am not bringing the quality of the broadcast down.

That was strange to me as I monitored the show and was impressed with her performance. Many of her colleagues were also very encouraging. In addition, the guests that she has hosted later shared their compliments of working with Layata.

When I shared the concerns of management with Layata, she looked deeply hurt. She began to vent about how many times she had tried to do something more and to improve her skills and how she had been constantly held back from progressing. She reminded me of her initial reluctance to participate in the show telling me, "see, I knew this would happen".

After letting her get everything off of her chest, I shared with her my stance. I told her that I believe that she has the potential to be a nationally recognized presenter and that I will stand by her each step of the way, asserting that she is the best person for the task. I told her that we will continue to find ways to improve until the show is at a level of excellence that would be absurd to critisize. I also told her that she does not have to pressure herself to be perfect as we all make mistakes and need them to learn, and that I will stand by her mistakes as well as her successes.

The result is that evenings of watching movies or imported soap operas and eating paw-paw (papaya) and drinking tea are now injected with show prepartions, informal workshops, and discussions of the issues that we are covering.

A small price to pay.