What does it take to write a radio program?

I am a midwife. I understand the physiologic impulses that make the uterus contract and release to bring a child to light. I can explain the mechanisms of action of various birth control methods. Surprisingly, I have the kinetic memory to insert a speculum, even when I haven’t performed a Pap smear in 6 months. As a midwife I had never considered myself a writer/producer of a radio soap opera!

Two years ago when the idea of creating a radio soap opera was just taking form I easily began writing for grants. The RAAN suffers one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the west, with estimates of 287/100,000 maternal deaths annually. The concept of writing a radio program seemed flawless: create a radio show in the format of a soap opera that will be interesting and informative. We will name it Mairin Karnakira (Strong Woman in Miskito). Women can listen to messages regarding how to care for themselves during pregnancy and how to identify obstetric danger signs if they arise. Easy as pie…so I thought!

So what does it take to write and produce a radio soap opera in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua? First and foremost: patience. Plans move at the speed of growing grass in Puerto Cabezas. Working on the North Atlantic Coast provides a daily lesson in living in the present. Secondly, on paper a project may appear to be a piece of cake, but once the steps are divided up into tasty slices, you realize that you may have bitten off more than you can chew! So here is where I began, and here is where we have arrived four months later.

For two months a group of Miskito Obstetric Nurses (otherwise known as midwifes!) would meet with me at the Casa Materna to discuss a pertinent maternal health topic that would make up the content for the radio show chapters. The meetings were planned for 3pm. The first attendant would usually arrive at 320, and by 345 half to three-quarters of the participants would be present. I would draw out my digital recorder, placing it haphazardly on a rocking chair in the middle of a circle formed by these knowledgeable nurses, and slip into Spanish focus group mode. After approximately an hour of discussion I would press the red stop button and thank the nurses for their time. Each week after our discussions I would begin the painstaking task of transcribing the recordings to preserve the exact language that the nurses used to describe obstetric events. Next, with my transcribed document open and a crisp blank document on the computer desktop I would begin writing the radio soap opera chapter. Now, for those who have never written a radio soap opera its much more challenging than you could ever imagine. You must create characters that are real, that are easy to relate to, and most importantly that are interesting. You must reach deep inside to find the creative spring that will flow words out onto the page, to paint the scenery and emotions with audible words, and create a thread that can be woven from one chapter to the next. Did I mention that if you were writing this radio-soap opera in Puerto Cabezas Nicaragua you would also be writing it in your second language? Did I also mention that along the way your laptop would fizzle out and die?

Well, all difficulties aside by December 18th the nine proposed chapters, totalling 125 pages, of Mairin Karnakira have been completed. My producer told me that I deserve an honorary doctorate in Spanish for my efforts! Now we are in editing stage. First the chapters will go to the Spanish professor at URRACAN, the local university, for her to edit to the point that they will sound like a native Spanish speaker from the region wrote them. Second, they go to the radio producer who will edit them for radio content, meaning that she will add in the sound details and narrations that I have surely left out. Then, the chapters will go to the Integrated Medicine students at URRACAN who will edit the chapters for their medical and traditional medical content to make sure the messages are clear.

So, four months later, for those waiting for the radio show update, we are in print edit mode. Fingers crossed, hopefully we will begin recruiting our actors and start recording in February…better make that fingers and toes crossed!