LEBANON / SYRIAN REFUGEES

Former tailor and businesswoman Jawaher fled Syria to escape daily bombings and lost all contact with her close-knit family for a year. Now a refugee in Lebanon, she has decided to sell some of her food to buy a mobile phone and reconnect with her family. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:26
• Production Date: 23 December 2015
• Asset Language: Arabic
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 1538234
• Parent Id: 1538234
• Alternate Title: unifeed151223a

Description

STORY: LEBANON / SYRIAN REFUGEES
TRT: 02:26
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 30 NOVEMBER 2015, TYRE, LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Jawaher looking out of her flat window
2. Wide shot, view from Jawaher’s window
3. Close up, Jawaher looking out
4. Wide shot, TV inside Jawaher’s flat
5. Med shot, Jawaher looking out the window
6. Close up, Jawaher lighting up gas hub
7. Med shot, Jawaher washing cups to make coffee
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“Nothing compares to my life in Syria. I owned a 4-floor apartment block, I lived in one, rented three. I did this so I can live with dignity, not to be humiliated.”
9. Close up, Jawaher pouring coffee into hot water
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“I had a good family who visited, they were the best. I didn’t rely on them. I relied only on myself.”
11. Wide shot, tray with coffee cups and sugar on it
12. Med shot, Jawaher drinking Coffee
13. Close up, Jawaher putting down her coffee cup
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“I am not afraid of anything but I am very lonely, depressed.”
15. Wide shot, Jawaher sitting inside her flat
16. Close up, Jawaher’s hands
17. Close up, raindrops falling on her window
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“Loneliness is a killer. If I had relatives I can go visit them, spend one hour and come back home.”
19. Various shots, Jawaher browsing photos on her phone
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“We only see each other on the phone. If it weren’t for the phone I wouldn’t know anything about them.”
21. Various shots, Jawaher using her phone

Storyline

Former tailor and businesswoman Jawaher fled Syria to escape daily bombings and lost all contact with her close-knit family for a year. Now a refugee in Lebanon, she has decided to sell some of her food to buy a mobile phone and reconnect with her family.

In a community where family is everything, Jawaher has to make do alone. The 65-year old is single by choice, but alone for reasons she finds hard to grasp.

In Syria, she was a tailor and businesswoman.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“Nothing compares to my life in Syria. I owned a 4-floor apartment block, I lived in one, rented three. I did this so I can live with dignity, not to be humiliated. I had a good family who visited, they were the best. I didn’t rely on them. I relied only on myself.”

But the war brought that life to an abrupt end.

When her house was bombed, Jawaher fled to Lebanon, alone. She now lives on aid handouts.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“I am not afraid of anything but I am very lonely, depressed. Loneliness is a killer. If I had relatives I can go visit them, spend one hour and come back home.”

For a few years she was unsure of who in her family was even still alive.

A year ago Jawaher sold some of her food to buy a smart phone…

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Jawaher, Syrian Refugee:
“We only see each other on the phone. If it weren’t for the phone I wouldn’t know anything about them.”

Jawaher spends her time between the phone, reading and waiting. She is optimistic that she can go back to Syria in her lifetime, to be independent once more and to be with her family again.