Guffai Guffma

“Why don’t you come and do a programme?” encouraged Laura Gartner, Plains FM’s Community Development Coordinator, to a group of soccer-loving youth. It was that initial contact after a chance meeting at a cultural event called SummerzEnd that led to two young Bhutanese guys making their own radio show on Plains FM. Akash Drukpa (holding the huge radio at the right) was born in Nepal and studies civil engineering at the University of Canterbury and Reuben Rai (plugged into our live stream) is from Bhutan and doing biblical studies at Laidlaw College. They are part of a community of about 300 Bhutanese people from refugee backgrounds living in Christchurch. So why do a radio show? Both young men went to the same high school, live in the same neighbourhood and have always been good at talking with each other. So it seemed like a natural transition from chatting on the sofa to chatting in the studio! They also want to draw the Bhutanese community together through their programme and help establish stronger connections within the community. “It’s something me and Reuben have been planning to do for a while...now finally its happening!” said Akash. As refugees these guys stand in more than one culture, and their thinking and language are influenced both by their heritage and by their new lives in New Zealand. “We want to talk about who we are, what is happening in the Bhutanese community, have music and interviews about a variety of topics and provide a platform for our experiences and stories to be told. We really want to feature the people in our community as well as look at contemporary issues among the Bhutanese” said Reuben. So how have they found the process so far? Both guys think Plains FM staff have been really welcoming, helpful and patient. They also realised you need to have a real conviction to do something like this for the community as it is a commitment to do a regular programme. “Doing a programme looks easy but it is harder than it seems! You have to prepare and work at it and as students we have to manage our time carefully. But we’d say to anyone thinking about doing their own show - don’t let the need for some commitment put you off. Give it a go!” GUFFAI GUFFMA (Walk the Talk) When: Every second Wednesday at 7:30pm and repeated the following Sunday at 3pm Many thanks to the Settling In Fund from the Office of Ethnic Communities for funding this programme.