ibu Services

Bonda Magazine

When I first arrived in KL a year ago a new friend loaned me a copy of Bonda which I devoured from cover to cover. I was very impressed by the quality and variety of information and by the range of other services ibu were offering. Little did I guess that nine months later I would be in the hot seat, desperately trying to meet copy and print deadlines so that Bonda would arrive on your doorstep each month!

An informal meeting is held each month to thrash out content ideas. We plan monthly themes a couple of months in advance so we can get some articles underway as early as possible. But the bulk of the material comes from ibu members contributing experiences they are prepared to share with other members. I think the strength of the magazine is in the personal stories – be they birth stories, travel stories or horror stories! You just never know when a Bonda article is going to come in useful …. Looking back at that first issue of Bonda I was given (September 1998) I have found a piece about looking after tropical fish – just what I need to help me with three new additions to our family. Thanks Cindy. Another major source of material is from professional people (usually medical) who have volunteered to write on a subject helpful and informative to families.

We try very hard to work to a copy deadline of the first of the month. This gives us three weeks to plan the page layout and put the magazine together before handing over finished pages to the printer. Most of the material comes in electronically as a ‘Word’ document. The magazine co-ordinators are eternally grateful to email. In fact, if I had to type up all the articles I don’t think I would be in the job now! These documents are transferred into Pagemaker (a desk-top publishing programme) and ‘tarted-up’ with graphics and photographs if they’re available. Cindy sends us the monthly advertising schedule so that we can slot in space for ads, and Brigitta forwards the News and Directory pages, which are so important in keeping everyone informed about what ibu is up to each month.

The last few days before the print deadline are usually a nightmare, with much burning of the midnight oil, but it’s always a great feeling to hand it over to the printer. Of course, the first thing we always do when the printed item plops through the letter box is look for mistakes!

Hilary Galea

Download the contents page for the latest Bonda Magazine