Installing WorldSpace satellite equipment was the first task for the IRIN Radio team on their visit to IRIN's Somaliland partner, Radio Hargeisa, in August 2003. The job involved fixing the antenna (prerequisite - a head for heights!), installing in the studio a computer fitted with a receiver card, and finally, giving technical training to the station's staff on how to use the new technology.

The WorldSpace kit enables Radio Hargeisa to receive a wide variety of extra sources of news, information and music, as well as IRIN Radio's weekly audio programmes in Somali. It's excellent for a station where reliable Internet access is still a problem.

? IRIN Radio Old equipment, such as this reel-to-reel tape recorder in Radio Hargeisa studio, is hard to maintain

As part of its capacity-building initiative for local partners, IRIN Radio also delivered to Radio Hargeisa two Minidisk recorders and microphones, and editing software to enable more efficient production of local programming.

Two of Radio Hargeisa's reporters took part in an IRIN Radio training workshop in June, where they learned the basics of digital recording and editing.

? IRIN Radio Giving refugee children a voice

Huge camps for displaced people from all over Somalia are dotted around the outskirts of Hargeisa. Large numbers of Somali refugees have also been returning from refugee camps in neighbouring Ethiopia. Conditions for many of these people living under temporary shelters are grim.

Reporting on life in the camps, IRIN Radio found many people, including children, were keen to have their voices heard.

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