Australia: Karen Language Community Radio Launched

MELBOURNE, 11 June 2010

A group of Karen volunteers in Melbourne, Australia, plan to launch the community radio program in cooperation with 3ZZZ radio. The program will also be broadcast worldwide on the Internet.

“Our aim is to help Karen youth remember who they are and to be able to understand and speak their own language even if they were born and grew up in a foreign country,” she said. “It is also to encourage our Karen elderly who do not speak English and live far  from traditional Karen society.”

Project initiator E’mer Paw San Shwe said she was worried about the next generation of Karen who will be born and grow up learning English, and who will have access to English news and information.

“Having radio in our own language is good because it will help preserve our language here,” she said.

Programing will keep the Karen community informed of events and activities and include local and international news, as well programs on Karen history, traditional music, interviews and story telling for children.

3ZZZ radio (FM 92.3) is the largest ethnic community radio station in Australia, which started broadcasting in 1989. The station has about 400 volunteers representing 70 languages.

The community-based radio station is primarily financed by listener subscriptions and donations.

Source: The Irrawaddy