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SOUTH AFRICA / COVID-19 REFUGEES
STORY: SOUTH AFRICA / COVID-19 REFUGEES
TRT: 03:55
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: JUNE - AUGUST 2020, PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA
1. Various shots, Saeed Mohamed, Somali refugee businessman, talking to community residents
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“This very difficult time where the pandemic, COVID-19, unfortunately has locked down many economies and many economies are really suffering as a result.”
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Regina, South African Beneficiary:
“We are struggling to buy food and mostly the money we get is not enough to cover all the expenses we have in the house.”
4. Various shots, Saeed giving donations to local residents
5. Wide shot, people walking inside grocery store
6. Med shot, Somali businessmen arranging goods inside store
7. Various of Saeed handing over donations to be packed in vehicle
8. Med shot, people packing donations into vehicle
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“You know what, here are people who welcomed us into their country and who host us in their country. 10. There must be a way we need to contribute back.”
11. Wide shot, Saeed talking to other Somali businessmen
12. Wide shot, people getting into car
13. Med shot, Regina, South African beneficiary sitting with other women in car
14. Med shot, Saeed looking on
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“The Somali business community got united to assist the local host community as well as some of the immigrants and refugees who are living in South Africa.”
16. Wide shot, Amin Sheikh, Somali refugee businessman on cell phone, walking inside store
17. Med shot, Amin speaking to other businessmen
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Amin Sheikh, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“A lot of people lost their jobs which means they cannot feed their families. That is the moment that you have to get up and give back to the community. That is when your community needs you.”
19. Wide shot, people queueing
20. Various shots, people waiting in line for food
21. Various shots, Desiree Boyseen, South African volunteer giving people food
22. Med shot, Desiree serving food from back of car
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Desiree Boyseen, South African Volunteer:
“I don’t really choose whom to help. The minute I come across the needy, I see people who are in need, I reach out to them.”
24. Various shots, Desiree with other women serving food
25. Wide shot, people standing, eating
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Desiree Boyseen, South African Volunteer:
“So, what we grew up on in South Africa is that on Sunday is a day to have a full meal at home. So, my wish is at least for them is, though I cannot give them food parcels but at least to have a full meal on Sunday, as little as it is.”
27. Wide shot, more of Desiree donating food
28. Med shot, Saeed giving Regina food donation
29. Med shot, women sitting together
30. Wide shot, man sitting alone eating
31. Med shot, woman giving young boy food
A community of Somali refugees is standing together with their South African neighbours to help people struggling to make a living during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saeed fled Somalia’s civil war as a 17-year-old back in 1991. In the years since, he has built a successful career as a banker and is part of a community of Somali businesspeople. Coronavirus has offered an opportunity to give back.
SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“This very difficult time where the pandemic, COVID-19, unfortunately has locked down many economies and many economies are really suffering as a result.”
Saeed has helped support 600 families during a COVID-19 lockdown, donating food, masks and sanitizer from the community.
SOUNDBITE (English) Regina, South African Beneficiary:
“We are struggling to buy food and mostly the money we get is not enough to cover all the expenses we have in the house.”
The group launched a care and campaign as the national lockdown began in late March, to help people who were likely to struggle under the strict stay-at-home conditions. They started by distributing masks, hand sanitizer and food parcels to residents of informal settlements in Pretoria and Johannesburg, then moved on to other parts of the country.
Saeed is at the heart of this operation, fuelled by memories of his flight from Somalia and the kindness he experienced when he arrived in South Africa. Refugees and asylum-seekers needing help to buy food and pay rent inundated the toll-free helpline of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in the lockdown’s first week.
SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“You know what, here are people who welcomed us into their country and who host us in their country.
Saeed’s family fled war in Somalia almost 30 years ago.
SOUNDBITE (English) Saeed Mohamed, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“The Somali business community got united to assist the local host community as well as some of the immigrants and refugees who are living in South Africa.”
By the end of May, over 3,000 people had called and over 95 percent of them had lost their source of income and faced hunger or eviction. The government provides assistance grants to thousands of individuals and businesses but groups including asylum-seekers, insufficiently documented refugees, irregular migrants and the homeless are excluded.
SOUNDBITE (English) Amin Sheikh, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“A lot of people lost their jobs which means they cannot feed their families. That is the moment that you have to get up and give back to the community. That is when your community needs you.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Amin Sheikh, Somali Refugee Businessman:
“A lot of people lost their jobs which means they cannot feed their families. That is the moment that you have to get up and give back to the community. That is when your community needs you.”
Désirée, a South African from Port Elizabeth, is busy dishing out portions of delicious hot food to homeless South Africans, migrants and asylum seekers, many of whom have lost their jobs.
SOUNDBITE (English) Desiree Boyseen, South African Volunteer:
“I don’t really choose whom to help. The minute I come across the needy, I see people who are in need, I reach out to them.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Desiree Boyseen, South African Volunteer:
“So, what we grew up on in South Africa is that on Sunday is a day to have a full meal at home. So, my wish is at least for them is, though I cannot give them food parcels but at least to have a full meal on Sunday, as little as it is.”
South Africa is host to 266,700 refugees and asylum seekers. Approximately 30 per cent are from Somalia, 29 per cent from the Democratic Republic of Congo and 20 per cent from Ethiopia, with the remainder mostly from Zimbabwe and Republic of the Congo.
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