Moving the needle on deeply rooted social issues takes time and is a more complex challenge than building a fan base. That is why a long-term commitment to an audience is crucial – and why PMC has broadcast three powerful Zoukoutap shows in Haiti.
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PMC produced the first season of Zoukoutap (“To Limp”) in Haiti in 2013. The Creole language radio show was such a success it was rebroadcast in 2014. A sequel to the program, Zoukoutap 2, aired from May 2015 to June 2016. Zoukoutap 3 aired from November 2018 to July 2020.
Although Zoukoutap means “to limp,” it is also the noise made by limping, like the scuffing on the ground. The theme song ends with a phrase that translates into, “we’re zoukoutap(ing) until we walk straight.”
Zoukoutap addressed a number of health and human rights issues, including Haiti’s “Restavek” system.
In the Haitian Restavek practice, parents unable to support their children may give their kid(s) to another family. The receiving family is supposed to provide the children with food, shelter, and access to education. Unfortunately, many children never get an education or barely get food and shelter. These children are completely at the mercy of their new “families,” and they often face verbal and physical abuse, unrelenting manual labor, and no source of love and support.
A focus group of participants listing to Zoukoutap 2 overwhelmingly responded that the contents of the show accurately and fairly reflected the truths of the Restavek system in Haiti. One participant stated, “What grabs my attention […] it’s the reality it shows, it opens my eyes to what’s going on in my country. When I listened to Zoukoutap it showed me a reality I never knew or cared about in Haiti, which is Ti Anklin’s situation of the Restavek.”
Zoukoutap episodes and more are on YouTube and Soundcloud.
Zoukoutap Season 3 Episode 145:
Supporting video series with actor interviews and discussions:
Powerful change takes time. Social justice requires shifting numerous aspects within our communities and within our individual perspectives. Population Media Center, a nonprofit leader in…
