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LEBANON / THREE MILLION SYRIAN REFUGEES
STORY: LEBANON / THREE MILLION SYRIAN REFUGEES
TRT: 2.30
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 28 AUGUST 2014, BEIRUT / WADI ZEINA, LEBANON
28 AUGUST 2014, WADI ZEINA, MOUNT LEBANON, LEBANON
1. Various shots, Syrian refugee Iman preparing tea in the kitchen
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“I had two girls with me one disabled, so I simply couldn’t stay I ran from one place to the other. As soon as things calmed down I was fleeing between towns. We’d find a place to stay, then fighting and bombing followed and many people died. I would wait an hour until it is quiet then flee once again.”
3. Med shot, Iman taking tea pot into living room
4. Close up, Iman pouring tea into tea glass
5. Close up, Iman
6. Close up, Iman stirring sugar into tea glass
7. Med shot, Iman drinking tea with her disabled sister and brother
8. Close up, Iman drinking tea
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“We couldn’t take it anymore; from being hungry to being cold, being under siege, being bombarded all the time. We saw people die in front of our eyes because of the bombing from both sides. We could no longer stay in Syria. We couldn’t take it, me, my brother, daughter and sister simply couldn’t take it anymore.”
28 AUGUST 2014, BEIRUT, LEBANON
10. Various shots, Syrian refugees at UNHCR registration centre
11. Pan left, UNHCR registration employee speaking to a refugee
12. Close up, employee stamping paper
13. Close up, woman and her toddler looking through window
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dana Sleiman, UNHCR:
“We are targeting those most vulnerable because we simply do not have enough resources to reach out to every single person in need. We are doing the best we can, the programs are ongoing and we will continue to advocate for more support to neighbouring countries especially Lebanon because there is a true need for financial support and burden sharing with a country that small accommodating this big number of refugees.”
28 AUGUST 2014, WADI ZEINA, MOUNT LEBANON, LEBANON
15. Various shots, Iman hanging laundry outside
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“It’s our country no matter what. Who wouldn’t miss their country? Who wouldn’t miss their home, the ground they walked on? No one can forget their country. We were raised in Syria, lived there, how can we not love it?”
17. Med shot, Iman and her brother
18. Pan right, Iman and her sister
STRORYLINE
Syria’s intensifying refugee crisis will today surpass a record three million people amid reports of increasingly horrifying conditions inside the country. Iman is a single mother to a 15-year-old daughter. She also looks after her disabled sister.
When the conflict started, she fled from place to place inside Syria.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“I had two girls with me one disabled, so I simply couldn’t stay I ran from one place to the other. As soon as things calmed down I was fleeing between towns. We’d find a place to stay, then fighting and bombing followed and many people died. I would wait an hour until it is quiet then flee once again.”
She was displaced no fewer than four times inside the country.
Her life savings dried up, her strength depleted, Iman faced a stark choice: stay and die, or leave the country.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“We couldn’t take it anymore; from being hungry to being cold, being under siege, being bombarded all the time. We saw people die in front of our eyes because of the bombing from both sides. We could no longer stay in Syria. We couldn’t take it, me, my brother, daughter and sister simply couldn’t take it anymore.”
Thousands of Syrians have lived similar stories. As the number of Syrians who fled their country is set to reach 3 million, Syrians are now the world’s largest refugee population under UNHCR care, second only in number to the decades-long Palestinian crisis.
The Syria operation is the largest in UNHCR’s 64-year history.
Neighbouring countries and humanitarian agencies struggle to keep up.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dana Sleiman, UNHCR:
“We are targeting those most vulnerable because we simply do not have enough resources to reach out to every single person in need. We are doing the best we can, the programs are ongoing and we will continue to advocate for more support to neighbouring countries especially Lebanon because there is a true need for financial support and burden sharing with a country that small accommodating this big number of refugees.”
Almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border, fully a million people more than a year ago. A further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. Over half of those uprooted are children.
UNHCR and other aid agencies say increasing numbers of families are arriving in a shocking state, exhausted, scared and with their savings depleted. Most have been on the run for a year or more, fleeing from village to village before taking the final decision to leave.
Iman had to pay the $200 she needed to leave the country.
The family now survives on cash assistance and food vouchers provided by UNHCR and WFP.
But she longs for the day that she can go back home to Syria.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Iman, Syrian Refugee:
“It’s our country no matter what. Who wouldn’t miss their country? Who wouldn’t miss their home, the ground they walked on? No one can forget their country. We were raised in Syria, lived there, how can we not love it?”
Leaving was their last resort, now they face an uncertain future and a long wait to go home.
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