Media
Samedi Matin
When COVID pandemic began, Burlington’s minority and immigrant communities needed special outreach with clear and accurate information. The executive director at Big Heavy World community radio (105.9 FM) invited our Dr. Wetchi to host a radio show providing clear, practical health information in African languages. Wetchi, with degrees in medicine and public health, also had skills in media and communication.
In September 2020 Wetchi began hosting Samedi Matin (Saturday Morning), a Francophone show that provided practical health information for surviving the pandemic, information that he leavened with African music. Wetchi continues his radio show to this day.
Listen to Samedi Matin here.
The African Variety Show
Dr. Wetchi also branched out into television. In August 2021 he initiated the African Variety Show on Burlington’s Town Meeting TV. Speaking by turns in French, Lingala (also known as Ngala), and Swahili, with bits of English, he explained to African communities the importance of wearing masks and getting vaccinated and boosted.
Beyond addressing the immediate public health emergency, the African Variety Show provides other information useful, even essential, to New Americans. Wetchi informs listeners about the city services available to them. He spent an entire program explaining the structure of the city government (it has “le peuple . . . au sommet”), so that new Burlingtonians would know where to go to solve a problem. In another episode he explained the logistics of voting—districts, voting places, dates, and ballots.
In other episodes, Wetchi informed viewers about the city’s Early Learning Initiative scholarship, which helps low-income families finance early childhood education; and CEDO’s Elmwood Avenue Shelter Pod Village, an emergency shelter of 35 shelter pods for homeless community members.
Mixing information with familiar music and culture seems key to Wetchi’s effectiveness. For example, his show covered an International Women’s Day celebration that mixed information on breast cancer and cervical cancer with traditional Congolese dance and food.
His shows on city programs are interspersed with shows on music. For Advent and Christmas, the Congolese Catholic Community Choir performed songs in French, Swahili, Lingala, Kikongo, and Lari. A lively episode on Congolese Rumba, all in French, explained the Congolese and Cuban origins of this dance music genre.
Watch The African Variety Show on Town Meeting TV. You can find episodes here. The show, in French, Swahili, and Lingala, appears on the fourth Thursday of each month.
