It’s as simple as a radio and a comic book

PCI's celebrated radio soap opera in Kenya, Ushikwapo Shikamana (If Assisted, Assist Yourself), is now in its fourth continuous year of broadcast. The fifteen-minute soap opera, which has been rated the number one drama program on Kenya Broadcasting Company’s (KBC) Kiswahili radio service, reaches millions of Kenyan listeners with a compelling blend of drama, intrigue, and captivating characters.

Ushikwapo Shikamana dramatizes life in three typical Kenyan settings: an urban center, a city's outskirts, and a rural area where opportunities for education and gainful employment are few. HIV/AIDS prevention, compassion for people living with AIDS, and the plight of AIDS orphans are important ongoing themes of the program. Other social and cultural issues addressed include teen sexuality, women's low status, domestic violence, female circumcision, substance abuse, and rural-to-urban migration.

Using the serial drama as the centerpiece of an integrated and synergistic communications strategy, PCI is able to influence attitudes and behaviors on a multiplicity of social health issues. To reinforce the key messages from the serial drama, Ushikwapo Shikamana also appears three times a week as a comic strip in Kenya's leading Kiswahili newspaper, Taifa Leo. The weekly comics are also adapted into a comic book format and the first book—of what will be an ongoing series—was printed in December 2001. Distribution of the comic book through bookstores; adult literacy programs; youth, women’s and church groups; and other outlets in Kenya is under way.

PCI’s regional representative in Africa and head scriptwriter for Ushikwapo Shikamana, Dr. Kimani Njogu, has been with the program since its inception. Working closely with him are a top-notch writing team; the production team at Top-Com, under the leadership of Tom Kazungu; the talented actors who work on the show; and a team of researchers who monitor the program on a regular basis and provide feedback to the creative team.

"Our decision to use radio soap operas in Africa to address critical health and social issues was deliberate,” Dr. Njogu says. “We have realized over the years that entertaining programs that are guided by a positive and humanizing theory have the unique ability to increase knowledge and change attitudes, as well as influence behavior. But the soap opera needs to be supported by a range of other activities, such as comic strips and comic books. The comics are powerful and captivating instruments of drawing attention to issues. When complemented by a monitoring strategy, as is the case with Ushikwapo Shikamana, multimedia approaches can be very effective."

In September 2001, Ushikwapo Shikamana won the Population Institute’s Global Media Award in the category of Best Radio Program for an episode on HIV/AIDS. The awards honor individuals and programs that contribute to “creating awareness of population problems through journalistic endeavors.”

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