Programs and events

August 30, 2012

U.S. Embassy Grant Supports Radio Broadcasting in Eastern Chad

American Ambassador Mark Boulware presided over a ceremony on Thursday, August 30, at which a $25,000 grant - provided by the Julia Taft Refugee Fund - was awarded to the Al Richate Association, to support its radio broadcast services in eastern Chad.  The recently formed Al Richate Association owns and operates Radio Sila, a community radio station based in Goz Beïda.  The station is a life line for many of the nearly half million refugees, internally displaced persons, and local residents to be found in camps and towns throughout the region.  Radio Sila’s news broadcasts and information/educational programs  -- often produced in local languages (Zaghawa, Massalit, Dadjo, Arabic and Foor) by refugee correspondents  and community activists – allow its listeners to better understand what is happening around them, and what is being done to help them  return home and to resume a normal life.  The $25,000 grant will be used to help train and further strengthen the skills of the radio’s operational staff and camp correspondents.  The U.S. ambassador pledged continue support for the humanitarian work of the Al Richate Association, saying: “I would like to underscore the US government’s ongoing commitment to work in partnership with local organizations such as Al Richate Association to support the protection and basic needs of the more than 290,000 Sudanese and 67,000 CAR refugees in Chad, as well as the communities in which they currently reside.”