I established my radio station to fight gender-based violence

Modesta Mselewa talks to Fadhila Sadala of AWiM News about why she decided to establish a radio station in the Geita Region in Northwestern Tanzania with a focus on fighting for gender equality.

Growing up in Ruvuma, located in the Southern part of Tanzania, Modesta always wanted to be a businessperson.

However, she had a passion to be a mass communicator to reach many people. “I wanted to reach a lot of people, “she said. One day her dream came true.

After secondary school, she joined the University of Cardiff, Wales for a degree in Business Administration. In 2011, she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming the International Marketing Director for Transcan Quality Inspections Services (TQIS) in Tanzania overseeing all aspects of the company’s business and operations.

“But even though I studied Business administration, I still enjoyed collaborating with the community especially women and girls to stop bad cultural practices like gender-based violence,” she said.

Though Modesta was still working as a businessperson, her passion was there, her sights were on setting up a radio station in Geita Region whose population stands at 99,795. The mission and vision were to save and educate the community.

Driving force to come up with media

In March 2012, Geita became an administrative headquarter. Modesta explained how Most Geita residents still live under a patriarchal system that oppresses women and girls from the family level to their communities. Modesta explained how she was able to study culture dynamics before setting up Storm Radio FM.

“I spent my time living with Geita communities and saw several levels of gender-based violence against women and girls. This was from the family level to the community level. Sexual violence is rampant in Geita, I was not happy to see them remain voiceless, so decided to step in the gap,” she stated.

Modesta added that most of the women were battered by their husbands. She also noted there were many incidences of child labour and early marriage within the community.

Launching programmes and campaigns to fight against sexual violence

She also noted that no radio station was emphasizing the issue of sexual harassment.

“Main purpose and goal are to uplift women, including raising women’s voices. In 2014, Storm Radio FM successfully started airing gendered angled stories in the Geita region.”:

“We aim to save the community by fighting against the patriarchal system as well as sexual violations as to achieve gender equality within Geita and outside regions around Lake Zone,” she said.

She added, “I have scheduled women’s programmes inclusively that will make women stand up including Mwanamke shujaa loosely translated from Kiswahili to mean Heroic Woman, that amplifies the voice of the voiceless as well as women empowerment and providing education to the population,” she concluded.

She pointed out that she is also involving police officers from the gender desk, the district commissioner and other government officials to help her drive the point home.

“I run the campaign called “stop violence” mostly women and girls are in the front line. By cooperating with my staff members that observe the community engagement by providing education as well as research, the performance of various concerts, rallies as well as conferences to achieve gender balance; we do every three months, after an assessment and evaluation,” she said.

She believes through these activities help in raising awareness.

Modesta in her Storm radio FM “Heroic Woman” “Mwanamke shujaa” is among people’s favourites and is aired every Saturday. She brings women from various sectors to engage with women and share with them some tips.

She also organises seminars, conferences and exhibitions of various products so that women get educated, convinced and empowered.

“Mwanamke Leo” loosely translated to Woman Today is another programme that airs every Saturday afternoon and uplifts women making them confident and building fundamental arguments from their family level to the community level.

According to Modesta, the programme succeeded by 51 per cent in raising the voices of women about the issue of sexual violence.

But while doing all this and achieving a lot, there are also challenges.

“I have got a lot of challenges as many communities in Geita could not open up to the media. The other challenge is inadequate infrastructure to reach community members,” she states.

Modesta describes herself as a problem solver, the voice of the voiceless, compassionate, knowledgeable, ambitious and bold, and advises journalists to do their best in achieving gender balance in content that creates new knowledge and makes changes within society. She adds that journalists should be self-driven and have a passion for covering issues affecting women.

In a 2019 report by JSI, in Tanzania, nearly one in three girls experience a form of sexual violence before turning 18. Almost four in 10 women have experienced physical violence, five women over age 15 report experiencing sexual violence, and one in five women over the age of 15 reports experiencing sexual violence in her lifetime, increasing her chances of contracting HIV.

Another report by UNFPA also states that most women in Geita are married at a young age and have children while still young. Hopefully Modesta, through her radio station will turn this tide.