child brides, HPV, menstrual pads : Goats and Soda : NPR

Tsega is a young person who needs to be a health care provider. However the excessive schooler’s dad and mom need her to marry an older man who’s well-off – and will assist her dad and mom, who’re previous and never wealthy.

That is the most recent plotline within the groundbreaking cleaning soap opera Yegna, which launched its fifth season this spring in Ethiopia.

Baby marriage is one in every of many urgent points for teenagers that the present has addressed. Previous plotlines have taken on cervical most cancers vaccines, menstrual pads and feminine genital mutilation. It is also a present that seeks to create gender fairness in its workers – this season nearly all of its writers and administrators are girls.

The cleaning soap opera was created by the charity Lady Impact, as a follow-up to {a magazine} and radio present launched a decade in the past. Yegna is Amharic for “ours.” The aim has all the time been to supply useful content material for teen ladies. The weekly present has an viewers of 9.8 million, with 44% of the viewers ladies age 13 to fifteen. At the moment, Yegna is making an attempt to achieve teenagers in distant areas the place TV might not be obtainable, working with UNICEF to arrange screenings in colleges in 22 villages adopted by discussions.

It is all the time arduous to show that TV can change minds and attitudes. Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), a associate in creating storylines concerning the cervical most cancers vaccines, employed an unbiased evaluator, Swiss TPH, to interview ladies who watched the present and ladies who did not. The viewers had been educated about cervical most cancers than the non-viewers (67 % vs. 36%) and the HPV vaccine (76% vs. 47%) and had been additionally extra more likely to wish to take the vaccine (70% vs. 43%).

To be taught extra concerning the new season, we interviewed

Eden (pronounce Ayden) Tigabu, 25, is a script author for the fifth season of Yegna in addition to a manufacturing supervisor and second assistant director. We spoke (in English) on Zoom from Addis Ababa, the place she moved from Harar (a small city within the jap Ethiopia) along with her mom and brother after eighth grade to have a greater training.

How did you develop into concerned with Yegna?

I all the time needed to be a author, however I studied city and regional planning at college as a result of my dad and mom needed me to get a level and went by way of loads to get me there. By likelihood, I met the top author of Yegna and acquired the chance to work in manufacturing. In season 5, Lady Impact was on the lookout for new abilities. They took younger feminine interns and educated them in writing, producing and directing. I educated as a author and managed the season 5 crew, which had greater than 35 crew members.

How do you write the scripts?

We sit collectively, seven younger writers and the top author and govt producer, Emmy-nominated Mehret Mandefro. Each season, Lady Impact provides us a collection of matters to deal with, primarily based on points confronted by youngsters in our nation and what has occurred within the earlier collection. We focus on the weather we wish to embrace, the story arcs, the construction, the cliff-hangers. Then we resolve which characters will carry the primary story line and the sub story strains, and we write the script. Yegna has 5 most important characters – three ladies and two boys – every with their very own backstory and traits.

Which storyline was most significant to you?

It needs to be the one about youngster marriage. Women in rural space usually marry younger as a result of their dad and mom are poor and struggling to make a dwelling. The character we selected for this matter is Tsega. Like me, she got here from a rural space to the town to be educated. She lives along with her aunt. She is shy, clever and devoted to her research. She needs to be a health care provider when she grows up, however her household are making her marry an older man. I’m not going to inform you the way it ends as a result of season 5 continues to be being aired!

I used to be shocked to see you had a storyline about betting. What prompted that?

Numerous younger males guess. They assume it is simple cash. And older folks watching soccer guess too and get in bother and it is inflicting issues of their marriage. It is such a giant drawback in our nation that our authorities is speaking of banning soccer betting.

How did you deal with betting?

This story begins in season 4 with Haile. He’s in highschool, however his dad and mom should not effectively off, so he must get a job. He acquired one as a mechanic. In season 5, he begins to earn good cash whereas nonetheless in highschool, however he would not know easy methods to handle it and below peer strain, he begins betting. At first, he wins and thinks it is a straightforward strategy to generate income. Then he loses all of it.

At first Lady Impact did not approve of that story: they did not need folks to assume [betting] was a straightforward strategy to generate income, however we used that story to indicate younger folks the significance of studying easy methods to take care of their cash.

The present affords a special picture of women and girls.

Most individuals in our nation assume that ladies should not adequate. Within the media, when ladies are represented, it’s as moms, doing house responsibilities. If girls wish to have a job, they aren’t seen as bosses. Individuals would moderately take orders from a male than a feminine.

Yegna addresses this in most seasons. In a single, Hana and her brother are going to the identical faculty, however when she goes house, she has to take care of her youthful brother and sisters, prepare dinner, clear the home and assist her mom. However her brother simply has to go to high school. When he comes again, he eats and goes out to play soccer. On the finish of the episode, he understands: he affords to assist his sister, in order that she will be able to get the time to review.

What sorts of reactions are you listening to concerning the present?

I used to be in one other metropolis and noticed folks watching Yegna. They stated: “You guys are actually making modifications. You level out issues which might be taking place, however that we did not give consideration to, like menstruation.” Many individuals know that girls have cycles, however not what is definitely taking place, the place to seek out sanitary pads or have good hygiene. In rural space, many individuals do not even know what a sanitary pad is! So, loads of ladies miss faculty as a result of they do not know what’s taking place to them. On this season, Tsega comforted a brand new woman in school, who was crying within the lavatory as a result of her uniform was stained from having her intervals. And he or she confirmed her easy methods to make DIY sanitary pads as a result of she will be able to’t afford to purchase them. We’re additionally making an attempt so as to add male involvement on this collection as a result of going by way of menstruation is not only about girls.

Has writing these storylines modified your views on any issues, had any impression by yourself life?

Sure, it made me understand that there are loads of tales I may inform and the facility of the media. After writing season 5, I’ve began to face up for myself in my profession and likewise in my private life. Plus, it additionally gave me an concept that I may flip right into a script.

Earlier than season 5, I used to be all the time a follower. I would not inform you my opinion as a result of I used to really feel like my voice, my opinion would not matter. However having the expertise of writing an episode and seeing what ladies undergo, then being a manufacturing supervisor, helped me understand that I may lead a crew. And season 5 crew was successful!

The story I wish to inform is that, in our tradition, children should not given loads of consideration when grown-ups are having a dialog. And when one solutions the fallacious reply at school, college students make enjoyable of that pupil. I wish to present those who shaming or telling others to maintain quiet may have an effect on a baby’s future profession. This tradition has even affected me. I’m engaged on overcoming my fears and dealing on this script is a primary step in creating my very own profession.

Veronique Mistiaen is a London-based award-winning journalist, writing about world improvement, human rights and social points for main media shops within the U.Ok. and internationally, together with The Guardian, The Occasions, The Economist, BBC Information, Newsweek, Nationwide Geographic, Le Monde and the Chicago. @VeroMistiaen