and I am many things some people call me
a media practitioner others call me a
documentary filmmaker others an actor
others are journalists
I believe differently I believe that I
am a modern evolution of a traditional
West African figure the grill grills in
tradition are the custodians of our
culture in our history our oral memory
of what has transpired before over time
we have seen the evolution of the role
of the kre-o from entertainers
storytellers and Town Criers they have
evolved and become our modern-day media
practitioners our you might say voice of
the voiceless if you think of modern-day
grills you might think of Steve Biko
the South African anti-apartheid martyr
who is best known for being the founder
of the Black Consciousness movement if
you think of Biko think of the phrase
black is beautiful and what it means or
our own Liberian Edward Wilmot blight
and whose writings formed the basis for
pan-africanism which the African Union
is a direct creation of now in addition
to these we’ve had Liberia Albert Port
Kenneth why best and the Lake Charles
beyond men who inspired others to push
the envelope in how we thought how we
dialogue and how we wanted our nation to
move forward as a kid my aunt used to
call me the TV Guide reason being that
any TV station any time you called me 7
o’clock in the night what’s on NBC I
tell her right away
CBS same thing any station you wanted I
remember eyes the TV Guide every month
and that memorization it enabled me to
multitask some might say I flipped from
channel to channel and as I flipped I
would listen and see people like dan
Rather on radio Robin white max boncala
Jarrett and Elizabeth Blount they helped
to shape Who I am today how I think how
in that tradition also we seen the
evolution of a new generation of grills
in Liberia and elsewhere due to the
digital revolution we’ve seen people
like Henry Costa mama Dee Dee Akita as
well as Rodney C evolve and their
evolution and commit to four has a lot
to do one simple thing the cell phone
this little thing has allowed us to
become content creators and distributors
at one touch
Liberia has a internet penetration rate
of 4% imagine that 4% of Liberians have
access to the Internet but a mobile
penetration rate of 78 percent in that
78% is what we need to focus on because
through that mobile platform they have
access to the Internet the world’s
largest source of knowledge ever in
human history and through this platform
they are able to become content creators
and distributors their very own with the
advancement of digital technology people
have learned how to process share and
create information in different ways as
they shape how we think how we believe
in how we interact with each other we
have learned one to trust more visual
communication two to trust information
that comes from those who are closest to
us a phenomenon that you might have seen
now as we are aspiring to be content
creators and new age Krios to say there
comes a caveat responsibility and
accountability we have to be responsible
for what we create and put out there and
we also have to be accountable to our
SIA t going back to grills they served
as custodians and they were accountable
to the society in which they lived and
that tradition has been carried on and
it has to be the watchword of what we
are otherwise we will see the rise of
extremism ideologies that harken back to
fascism
and so on and so forth
during Ebola the cellphone allowed us to
one gather and share information to an
unprecedented degree it allowed us to
fully grasp what was happening even
though we weren’t in Lofa or in Nimba or
nuketown was no notice what it was where
we had high incidences it allowed us to
communicate and better share information
that helped to stop the spread of the
EVD I use that example because you
report which is the program which was
sponsored by UNICEF directs utilize
young people and their cell phones their
mobile phones to gather disseminate and
give information creating platforms of
contents creation and distribution as
new age grills or people who have
stories to tell who want to tell the
stories of our world we have to look at
accountability and responsibility but
also how we want to push our dialogue
and our nation forward in this way
enough few friends of mine and I we sat
down and we looked at it we were like
how can we really impact our nation
positively as we’re going for it
especially with in light of the
elections next year and we decided to
create a platform or a program wherein
we will get youth in Monrovia to start
with an Buchanon teach them how to use
these digital platforms with the intent
of creating a new generations of griot
who are not based upon socio-economic
lyrical status and whose only desire is
to be seen and to be heard to influence
positively and as we teach them how to
use this platform that is cellphone
gives to record edit and put out there
for them to influence the world around
them we want to create a new generation
whose voice is not limited by political
ideology we want to create a new
generation whose ideas are Liberia
Africa and the world our society first
whose aims in admissions are simple
creates factual information from within
the communities where we live in
disseminate that information knowing
that we are accountable for what we are
putting out there in our society and
three preserving the knowledge that has
passed before and that we are giving out
just think about this we’re in a digital
age where everybody who’s on Facebook
has an average of three to four thousand
friends just think how much one person
can touch if you use multipliers of five
thinking a nation of Liberia where cell
phones constitute our major means of
communication and information
dissemination think about Liberia where
the 78% of people who have cell phones
are more than the registered voters
voters think about what can happen what
we could accomplish in this nation if we
had a new generation dialoguing from
within their communities from where true
to Monrovia from Banga to Buckhannon
sharing their experience
their decisions which could then push
our National Dialogue forward and push
our thoughts how we want to move our
nation forward in this next step of our democracy