Crunch time..without the crunch

So the Upstarters just seem to diminish with every week. At the start of first term, we had 6 kids, delighted about being chosen to produce a radio show- enthusiastic and eager to start. Now, it seems that Fifi and I are lucky if three pitch up. 

We have two kids producing content at the moment, Xabiso and Reggie. At this stage we have 8 sound clips from them, all Upstart articles rewritten and recorded for radio. Our first show is supposed to air on the 7^th of May. That is less than a week away! There’s just no chance of that happening. We have to be realistic now. Atleast we have Reggie and Xabiso though. They continue to put in the effort- a reflection of their incessant enthusiasm. On a good day, as I said, Aphiwe will also turn up, but she, or should I say he, as I’ve recently found out to my great surprise, didn’t come to the last two workshops.

So Friday and Saturday’s sessions were all about producing content- rewriting from Upstart, recording the rewritten story and editing it. We also facilitated auditions for Reggie and Xabiso, as Gugs will be choosing an anchor for the show. The audition was a simple read of an old script from last year, followed by a bit of improvisation work, where they had to talk about their favourite song at the moment. Xabiso wasn’t originally in contention, but we decided to give him a chance- a reward for his punctuality. I like Reggie’s style though. He is comfortable on air, engages with the audience and composes himself when improvising. Xabiso unfortunately is not quite so cut out for it. When he did his improvisation, he was awkward and didn’t know what to say so he just remained quiet. Not an ideal situation for radio!

So why is this happening? Why are only two or three coming? I admit, Fifi and I’s communication with Upstart and RMR is not strong, a fault on both sides I would say. But do Upstart want this thing to happen or not?! It seems that they are indifferent about the project. I found out a couple of days ago that Shireen and Setumo are away for the week, so we can’t get hold of them. Great, thanks for the heads up! No food or taxi money for the kids is just one of several problems with that. And it seems that RMR and Upstarts communication is non-existent. The anchoring audition was supposed to be arranged by them but we ended up doing it. I send an email to Setumo saying please can you make sure all of the Upstarters will be at the next workshop (in ten days time) and I get a reply saying ‘this is yet another last minute plan you are trying to arrange’… really? And of course, as usual only two came. There’s only so much we can do, if they don’t step up, this simply isn’t going to happen.