5.2.3. Communication form ats
5.2.3.1. Drama
" It' s the dram atic appeal that lead s to audience invol vem ent mech ani sm throu gh which EE has its effects to help peopl e to talk about the issues. It is also aud ience involvem ent that actu all y lead s to changes in behaviou r." (Rogers, 2002:15). Using this, radi o can bring exciting drama s that engage listeners ' emo tions while informing them of new ideas and beh aviours that can improve their lives and their comm unities (de Fossard, 1996). This impliesthat dram ais one ofthe favourite EE formatsto convey messagesplainl ytothetarget audien ce through role modelling. For de Fossard (1996), role models in dramas make the messages much clea rer bydem on stratingto listeners the benefi ts they cangain from a change in their life style, as opposed to an abs trac t description. It also illustrates bad and good behaviou r. EE drama utilizes three different styles. They are indepe nde nt dramas which tell s the story completely inone broad cast;series which is a collection ofindep end entdram as with some major character s in each programme; and the serial which is an ongo ing story that continues from one broadcast to another with many episodes (de Fossard, 1996). She also discu sses that any EE dram a has five maj or features, which are characters, plot s, setting, them eand the spec ific messagerelated tothemain them e.
In Ukhozi FM, dramas are employed for tra nsm ittin g the messages tha t aim at comba ting HIY/AIDS . The radio station obta ins them mostly from Soul City and LoveLife as well as otherorganizations like Voter educa tion. These dramas are written, and some times produ ced by organizations outs ide the SABe. They all use EE as the irguidi ng meth odol ogy (SoulCity, 2001 andSta ndler& Hlongwa,2002).(See section5.2.5.2 forfurthe r discu ssion oflinkstoall
organizations) . The drama department in Ukhozi FM has one person who works as the manager, producer as well as recepti onist. After he makes the necessa ry adjustments, he produce s the drama and broadcasts it on air. Further, the message s of the dramas focus on how to make the public aware and fight HIV/AIDS. Apart from this, they also deal with various social issues like abuse of wom en , violence and other problem s such as cleaning environments. The actors are hired from outside the radio station. They are teachers, university students and others from the nearby community who can read Zulu fluentl y. The people who participate in acting in thedramaare paid bythe SABC.
For instanc e, in December 2002, Ukhozi FM recei ved a drama fro m SoulBuddyz (Appendix 3). SoulBuddyz is a version of Soul City targeted at a youn ger audience, including children and teenager s.This drama has ten episodes. Beginning from episode 7 until episode 14,the drama deal s with HIV/AIDS and other issues as sub-themes. Each episode also divides into different scenes ranging from 3-5. The numbersof thecharacters in each episode differs from 6 to 9 although theyare the same. The characters arememb er softhe same family, friendsand teachers . The general sce ne of the dram a is set at hom e and schoo l, which differs for each scene . In this drama the major theme is HIV/AIDS, which is presented accompanied with different idea s. To be specific, the main message deals with stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS affected and infected people, talking abo ut HIV/AIDS ope nly, HIV/AIDS and sexual abuse with emphasis on talking openly in a transparent way; HIV/AIDSin relation to alcohol abuse and env ironment; HIV/AIDS facts and discarding misconcept ion s and encouraging the issue of safe sex and the useof condoms and helping those HIV/AIDS affected and alcohol abuse.
The scenes are presented in dialogical form s: among the family member s, school friends, teacher sand students. The writer or produ cer seems to contex tua lize thedrama bysettingthe scene around Pinetown. Thiscan help to make it more reliable for the story, although it might not bethesame for the peopl eliving in rural area s.Inaccordance with thedramatic principl es of EE which says that EEdrama must have: charac ter; setting; plot ; and spec ific messages, each episode seems to fulfil this principl e by providing a few limited characters , a clear setting with a well-establishedmes sage andcharac ters.
In Dcmitsi-Hafash, dramas are among the formats used to disseminate messages of HIV/AIDS and other issues. Unlike UkhoziFM,however,all the dramasareproducedeither by the Educational Desk which is part of the radio station or by voluntary contributo rs from the audienc e. There is no organizati on like Soul City that can do extensive research to
produ ce well-develope d EE serialsor other forms of drama for theradi o station. In fact, most of the dramas are short, which are aired from one to six broadca st time slots on a weekly basis. The dramas are not classified in episo des and scenes. In most instances they are presented in a dialogu e form between two peopl e. There are also dram as that have ten and more charac ters. For example, in 2003 until July, the radio statio n broadcast three dram as called: Hayenta, Talking abo ut HIVIAIDS openly and Let liS support HIVIAIDS affected and inf ectedpeopl e.The numbers of charac tervaried from ten tothree. Basedon the class ification ofenter-educate drama ' sprincipl e, they can be categorizedas independ ent and series dramas.
According tode Fossard (1996),independ ent drama tell s the complete story inone broadcast, usuall y lastin gno lon ger than one hour and itcan be as short as five minutes. Series dram a is a collection of independ ent dram asthat usethe same major charac ters ina program .
For instan ce, in 2003,the radio station broadcast arad iodram a called Hay enta (Appendix 4.) This dram ahas five cha racters consis ting oftwo boys, two girlsand adoctor. Allofthem are young high schoolstude nts. Thisalso implies the target audience of thedram as areyouthwho are at the level of high schoo l. The major theme ofthe drama ishowpeopl e who have multi- partn er s and money lover s are trapp ed into HIV infection . That is, Lidea and Dani el, who were chas ing lover s in orde r to get money, becom e HIV positi ve while Selam and Samuel who are innocent but from rich families are HIV negative.Apart from the HIV/ AIDS issue and conse quences of having multi-partners, thedrama triesto address the issue s ofeconomic problem sdriving young peopl etounwanted behaviour suchas chea ting to get money.Thatis, Daniel and Lidea had sexual affairs with other people though they were pretending to be perfect lover s with each other, promi sing to live together faithfully forever. Italso addresses how HIV affects famili es. Daniel who is the only son to his moth er becom es HIV positi ve.
The drama also ends up with the regret ofLidea and Danielwho are HIV positi ve,and with marri age ofSelam and Samue l. This in tum highl ights the centra l message, which the writer wants to achi eve. The setting of the drama is the capital city Asmara, particularly in restaurant s, bars and of course high schoo l too. The plot was developed from simp le relationship bet ween Lidea and Dani el as schoo lmates to Selam and Sam uel who were their friends . Then Lidea and Dani el becom e HIV positive for whic h they regret. The conflict is between good beha viour and bad behaviour. Those who have good behaviour (Se lam and Samuel) triumph over those with bad behav iour (Lidea and Danie l). The target audience of the drama areyoung peopl e at thehigh schoo l level. This dram a tran smits the messages abo ut HIV/AIDS and entertains the audie nce. Neverthe less, it would be hard to call it
ente rta inme nt-Educa tion. As EE is designed on the base of extens ive research ; study of the messages; study ofthe target audience; charactersand thechange tha t istobe achieve d.