After stopping by their office and speaking to the staff, another radio station in Soroti called Veritas was kind enough to offer the Gideon Foundation radio time. The purpose of this 3rd visit to a radio station was to not only continue the discussion we started about human sacrifice in Speaking on the Radio, Part II, but to direct the questions towards specific groups of people (ie police officers, witchdoctors, district officials, etc). So, on August 3, 2011, Dorothy Akol, chief volunteer at the Gideon Foundation, and I were on the radio again, but this time from 3-4 pm. We were able to get through some of the questions but we encountered many problems during this radio show including a poor telephone reception and a very limited time to speak with the advertisements. This was also our first time with this radio host and so the show didn’t flow as smoothly as it had for us during our previous shows. But we were able to get through about half of the script. We were able to ask the radio listeners about a handful of questions but unfortunately most of the people who had a response couldn’t get through due to the telephone reception. But regardles the Gideon Foundation was on another radio station and during an afternoon time.
The next day, the radio station that we had spoken on previously, Delta FM, called and offered the Gideon Foundation more radio time. So on August 5, 2011, Dorothy and I were on the radio again from 8-9 pm with the radio host, the Peacemaker. The show went really well and the Peacemaker even played songs concerning human sacrifice during the show as well. Here is the script that we used:
We were only able to get through about half of the questions so Delta FM was kind enough to offer us even more radio time a few days later. So on August 9, 2011, Dorothy and I were on the radio again to finish the script.
We received many, many calls during both of the shows on Delta FM. What stood out for me was that we also received a call from someone who is for human sacrifice and defended his position by saying its in the Bible in the story of Abraham. But then someone else called in right after him and basically said that Abraham didn’t sacrifice his son and that God was testing Abraham’s faith. Someone else called in and suggested that the Gideon Foundation sue the government because witchdcotors do have to register to practice. It was a very lively discussion and Dorothy ended the show by giving tips on preventing human sacrifice and by again explaining what the purpose and activities of the Gideon Foundation.
The next day, the radio host, the Peacemaker, and the program manager of Delta FM, David Okurut, spoke with Dorothy and myself about having , the Gideon Foundation speak on the radio on a continual basis; to make it part of their programming. They said that they had received many phone calls regarding the show, even some from people who had just been affected by human sacrifice. They think that a show like this could do many things in including building the confidence and trust of people in Gideon, encouraging affected families, serving as an outlet for people to release information and serving a forum for people to question the practice of human sacrifice. They hope that these talk shows will become a model and will reach a level.
But, the issue in the Gideon Foundation continuing these talk shows is money. Delta FM had been kind enough to offer the Gideon Foundaiton free radio time thus far but of course this cannot continue on a weekly or bi-weekly basis as the costs to the conduct the radio shows (electricity, radio host fees, etc) would be too much. One 60 minute radio show costs 400,000 Ugandan Shillings which currently amounts to about $142 (US).
Photo: David Okurut, me, the Peacemaker and Dorothy
Tags: child sacrifice, delta fm, dorothy akol, gideon foundation, human sacrifice, jamyel jenifer, ritual murders, soroti, uganda
