African Listeners on Ebola WhatsApp

Available for over a year

This week the BBC World Service launched an Ebola information service using the smartphone chat app WhatsApp. Public health messages, audio clips and pictures are delivered directly to smartphones. It is an effort to reach people who are not already accessing the BBC’s radio and tv broadcasts and other online sources of information about ebola. But is it reaching those who need it most? Rajan Datar invites two Over to You listeners from either side of Africa to speak to Trushar Barot, the head of Chat Apps for the BBC World Service, and tell Trushar what they think. And we hear from a listener who recalls when radio drama was a regular part of the World Service schedule, before budget constraints made drama a rare listening treat for her. But despite the cuts, the International Radio Playwriting Competition remained. This week the three winners of the 2014 competition arrived at the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London to see their work being recorded. Ana Gonzalez Bello made the journey from Mexico to see her play Diablo and Romina, Alana Valentine travelled from Australia for the recording of The Ravens, and Virginia Jekanyika came from Zimbabwe to record The Cactus Flowers. Over to You goes behind the scenes with Virginia and asks her why she thinks radio drama is so important.