Chérie Rivers Ndaliko
Africa is a country | February 6th, 2014
In 2013, Alkebu Film Productions released a 34-minute documentary, Mabele na biso (Our Land), that
profiles a community in the Isangi region of the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) that has staunchly refused to be controlled by
international aid. Within the matrix of extraordinary initiatives
organized in this region, the film focuses primarily on the Mabele
Community Radio, that not only offers local programming, but is powered
by a generator fuelled by locally produced palm oil. Through its
programs, the radio has made significant impacts in the domains of
education, agricultural production, women’s rights, and health. As such
the radio emerges almost as a character of its own in the film’s larger
critique of international aid in Africa. Yet, while the radio is an
admittedly inspiring example of community empowerment, the analysis of
aid policy offered by key figures in the region is arguably the most
compelling aspect of this project.
And this is precisely where things get
complicated, for this is a project that both criticizes international
aid and is–at least in part–funded by it. What follows is a brief
reflection on this film and the ways in which the process of its
creation and its potential future shed light on some larger questions of
international aid. Here’s the film’s opening scene:
Read more and watch the short documentary.. ..
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