CAMEROON / CAR FAMILY REUNION

A mother of 11 children, separated from some of her family when fleeing violence in Central African Republic is reunited with them, four months later, in a refugee camp in neighbouring Cameroon. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:24
• Production Date: 31 May 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
• Geographic Subject: CAMEROON; CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
• MAMS Id: 1021941

Description

STORY: CAMEROON / CAR FAMILY REUNION
TRT: 2.24
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH /NATS

DATELINE: 12-16 MAY 2014, GBITI , MBILE, CAMEROON

Shotlist

1. Med shot, family packing shelter
2. Med shot, old man rolling carpet
3. Wide shot, old man rolling carpet
4. Wide shot, girl and boys walking away with belongings on their heads
5. Close up, girl
6. Med shot, girl and two boys
7. Wide shot, UNHCR staff filling form
8. Med shot, Aboubacar sister and brothers
9. Close up Ibrahim Aboubacar
10. Close up Moussa Aboubacar
11. Pan right, boys getting into bus
12. Med shot, bus going away
13. Various shots, convoy on the road
14. Wide shot, buses arriving in Mbile
15. Med shot, mother kissing boys
16. SOUNDBITE (French), Ramatu Adjudi, mather of 11:
“It’s been 4 months since I last saw them. I was happy, but I’m still looking for 2 other family members. However, things are a bit better.”
17. Wide shot, family sitting
18. SOUNDBITE (French), Ramatu Adjudi, mather of 11:
“In the Central African Republic, when the anti-balaka rebels came through, we all fled. My husband ran one way with 2 boys and I fled to the bush with the 8 other children.”
19. Wide shot, family in front of the shelter
20. Wide shot, community shelters
21. Wide of family with tree in front
22. Wide shot, family sitting down eating
23. Close up family eating
24. Close up, hand of boy reaching for food
25. Med shot, Aboubacar family walking

Storyline

Families torn apart by conflict - a sad, but often heard story in the Gbiti refugee camp in Cameroon, at the border with Central African Republic (CAR), country gripped by violence.

Some 20 000 refugees from CAR are living in Gbiti camp.

The lucky few pack and prepare to rejoin lost relatives. Most struggle on without news.

Mairama Aboubacar is a lucky one. Four days ago, in another camp, she heard her brothers Ibrahim and Moussa were in Gbiti, near the border between Cameroon and Central African Republic.

Mairamma has left her mother and seven other siblings to come here and bring the lost brothers back to their family. UNHCR will put them in a convoy going to the Mbile camp.

Five long, hot hours in a bus will erase four months of enforced separation, and open the door to a new, safer life.

At last the convoy arrives and a mother sees her sons again.

Ramatou Adjudi, a 45-year-old mother of 11 children, was separated from three of her sons and her husband during the ordeal of their flight. While Ramatou and 8 of her children ran into the bush, her husband and three other boys fled in another direction. During four months, Ramatou had no information on where and in which conditions her missing sons and husband were.

UNHCR has registered the Aboubacars and they will soon be moved to a permanent, private home.

They can visit relatives, eat a hot meal, and hope that their lost father and brother will join them.