JORDAN / SYRIAN REFUGEE JOURNEY

At the age of 94, Abou Ali has embarked on a perilous journey back to his homeland, Syria, after losing his wife to illness and spending two years as a refugee at the Zaatari Camp in Jordan. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:33
• Production Date: 1 January 2016
• Asset Language: Arabic
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 1541450
• Parent Id: 1541450
• Alternate Title: unifeed160101b

Description

STORY: JORDAN / SYRIAN REFUGEE JOURNEY
TRT: 03:33
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 29 NOVEMBER 2015, ZAATARI CAMP, JORDAN

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Syrian refugee Abou Ali living in Jordan, sitting on a mat outside his shelter
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“Exile strips away your roots.”
3. Close up, Abou Ali drinking tea
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“When you leave your country and your home, you lose your dignity. Your dignity stays at home, it doesn’t come with you.”
5. Med shot, Abou Ali outside his shelter
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“I used to have fun with her. But since she died, the world feels smaller, I feel like I am suffocating. I swear.”
7. Close up, Abou Ali drinking tea
8. Med shot, Abou Ali sitting on a mat outside his shelter
9. Close up, Abou Ali holding prayer beads
10. Wide shot, Abou Ali getting up and sitting on wheelchair
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“What God wants will happen. If I am meant to die in an airstrike, I will. If I am meant to die under the bombing I will. In a fire, I will.”
12. Close up, Abou Ali waving outside shelter
13. Med shot, Abou Ali sitting on wheelchair
14. Close up, Abou Ali’s face
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“I swear we were living in heaven. I had a grocery shop. 26 years in that shop. 26 years that felt like an hour. Why? Because I was happy, living a good life, seeing good people.”
16. Wide shot, exterior Abou Ali’s shelter
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“Our life has been wasted. It’s like someone who lived all his life up above and suddenly they found themselves underground.”
18. Various shots, Abou Ali outside his shelter playing with children
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Ali, 94-year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan:
“My heart is telling me to go. This is not my homeland. It is not where I was born.”
20. Various shots, Abou Ali waiting at bus stop, boarding bus and leaving

Storyline

Jordan witnessed an increase in the number of Syrian refugees moving back to Syria in August and September.

During those two months, more than 100 refugees have been going back to Syria on a daily basis.

With the conflict entering its fifth year, desperation, aid cuts and difficult living conditions have pushed Syrians to move back despite the dangerous security situation.

At the age of 94, Syrian refugee Abou Ali says he doesn’t want to end his life in exile. He fled Syria to go to Jordan two years ago, seeking refuge with his wife, who later died.

“Exile strips away your roots,” said Abou. “When you leave your country and your home, you lose your dignity. Your dignity stays at home, it doesn’t come with you.”

Speaking about his wife Abou said, “I used to have fun with her. But since she died, the world feels smaller, I feel like I am suffocating. I swear.”

Abou has decided to return to his hometown of Daraa where his wife’s body has been repatriated.

“What God wants will happen. If I am meant to die in an airstrike, I will. If I am meant to die under the bombing I will. In a fire, I will,” said Abou defiantly.

Remembering about his life in Syria, Abou said he and his wife “were living in heaven. I had a grocery shop. 26 years in that shop. 26 years that felt like an hour. Why? Because I was happy, living a good life, seeing good people.”

However, the Syrian refugee said his life was now “wasted”

“It’s like someone who lived all his life up above and suddenly they found themselves underground,” he said.

“My heart is telling me to go. This is not my homeland. It is not where I was born,” Abou said shortly before boarding a bus for Syria.

An average of 30 refugees went back to Syria in October, down from a 100 a day in the summer. UNHCR counsels all refugees willing to travel to Syria about the risks of going back, but ultimately it is their decision.