Kambisa!BeHeard.

some advice.

shape: how do you put it?

First off all, whether you're writing, talking, acting or singing: try to get your message across as clear as possible. Don't try to be too polite, diplomatic or sound very sophisticated. Just say what you have too say, as straight forward and simple as you can. Start plain, you can explain yourself later and add some nuances. Keep your sentences short, speak clearly and avoid words, phrases or expressions which many won't immediately understand, not everybody has got a dictionary at hand and as a rule the audience is lazy! Don't strain them when it's not really needed, they'll be more likely to stop paying attention then to run to the nearest library. So: don't distract the audience from your message by putting it in a unneeded complicated shape, unless you feel that shape is more important (which can be the case in certain poems etc.).
> trick: before your start composing your contribution, sit down and try to describe in one or two sentences the essence of what you want to say, make a summary paying much attention to what's really important and what is not. Some journalists use the 'rule of the five W's' when describing what happened: what, where, when, who and why. Wonder which one of these five W's is most important and start from there (same for second, third etc.). BUT, mind a rule is just is a rule, it's meant to help you - if it frustrates you instead, forget about it! First and foremost, Kambisa! is about expression, the way you want it.

contents: what information do you give?

Usually, this is where responsibility comes in: what information can you give people without them reacting in a way you don't want. In Zambian newspapers, you'll often find a suspect of a certain crime is mentioned with his surname, the details of his whereabouts or even his phonenumber before he's even been found guilty. In Europe, even if a judge has decided he's guilty, publishing such information is strictly forbidden: what if people angry with the suspect or the convincted, go out to take the law upon themselves and lynch him? The journalist publishing his details will be held responsible for whatever injuries the one he wrote about might sustain. Keep in mind that however upset or hurt you are, you should protect the people involved in your story. None of us ever hold the truth, don't do things you might regret later.... and if you really have to: don't use Kambisa! to do it for you.

Beware, sometimes there are risks you wouldn't have thought off when you composed your contribution, you might endanger another without realising. Try to search your mind before publishing and avoid risky details.

Example: you are trying to warn people about the dangers of sleeping with each other without using a condom. You write: 'last wednesday I saw Justin Banda (41) from Kaunda Square stage 1 bringing his teenage girlfriend to hospital for an abortion'. Say you've got nothing against Justin Banda, but you saw him bringing a young lady he looked close with to the gyneacology department at UTH and just wanted to use it as an example to illustrate your story. Are you really sure she was his girlfriend, are you really sure she went for an abortion, what if Justin Banda is a married man, do you really want his wife to read this? Why don't you write instead: 'sometimes you see adult men bringing their young girlfriends to hospital for an abortion' or 'last week i saw a man i knew, bringing a young teenage girl to hospital. they went into the gyneacology-ward. i wondered if the girl was having an abortion', 'in stead of ending up taking your girlfriends to hospital, you should have worn a condom...' etc. There a plenty variations, depending on how you want to tell your story. Off course it often livies up a story to add details about the personalities involved, but you can do that by describing them ('a middle-aged man wearing a grey suit over a pair of somewhat stained shoes, he looked like he had a nice job somewhere but at the moment he seemed to be a bit disturbed...') rather then just putting a name. That way, not only will you be saving somebody an unpleasant surprise, you also get the attention of people who've never heard of Justin Banda.

There's so much more to say, too much to mention briefly at this page, but if you have any questions...

get in touch!

If you have anything you want to ask, say or publish, please get in touch via klaartjejaspers@gmail.com, p.o. box 37657 in Lusaka, Zambia or +260 (0) 97 845019.