Feature: Radio still gateway to the world for Namibian rural dwellers

It is 9:00 a.m. in the far flung Namibia's Oshana region, and 85 years old Letta Keendawala lends a listening ear to the radio.

"Omwa thika koprogramma," the morning show presenter on Namibian Broadcast Corporation (NBC) Oshiwambo radio station welcomes her audience to the show, and Keendawala couldn't be happier to hear the familiar voice.

"I have to turn up the volume, I don't want to miss a thing," said Keendawala as she alters the volume on her battery-powered stereo.

As Keendawala sits on a mat made of dry palm leaves under a tree near the homestead, radio keeps her company. "Radio is my gateway to the rest of the world. Because of radio, I am always updated with recent developments, especially announcements," said Keendawala, who spends most of her afternoons alone.

"My children have migrated to urban areas and the grandchildren are at school. Radio is my companion and entertainer," she added.

She tells Xinhua that she does not recall when she last read a newspaper.

"Newspapers hardly reach this remote place. And when newspapers eventually reach this place, most content is in English. We are indigenous people. That is why radio remains the popular media in rural areas," she said.

"Not only that, but most of my peers are illiterate or they have poor eye sight due to old age," she added.

The 2014 literacy rates revealed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics revealed that the total youth literacy rate in sub- Saharan Africa is 69 percent, and is 10 percent lower for adults.

Rod April, the Deputy Director General for the Namibia National Commission for UNESCO on Wednesday said that radio remains the medium that reaches the widest audience worldwide.

"It is a multi-purpose medium that helps people, including rural marginalized groups in remote communities and vulnerable people such as the illiterate, the disabled, women youth and the poor by offering them a platform to participate in public debate as well as other issues that affect them in their localities," he said.

It is not only Keendawala and peers, but the youth too tune onto radio for multiple uses.

"From radio, I get to hear and learn of new opportunities," said Kauna Alueendo, 22 years old rural dweller.

According to Alueendo, government officials, private institutions and civil society alike publicises their activities via many platforms, but radio is the most accessible platform for her. "I don't have access to newspapers on a daily basis, therefore I maximize on medium such as radio to be updated," she said.

The benefits of having access to radio are irreplaceable, according to the villagers. "Epupa (an investment company contracted to distribute pension allowances to senior citizens) just announced when we can expect to receive our monthly pension allowance and when the meeting at the headman house will be. If it had not been for radio, I will be in the dark," said Keendawala.

In the meantime, "each chance I get my pension money, I buy two batteries for my radio (which is battery-powered) to make sure that I am updated, informed and entertained," Keendawala concluded. Namibia joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Radio Day in February 2015. Endi