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DR CONGO / PEACEKEEPER CAPTAIN ALAMU
STORY: DR CONGO / FEMALE PEACEKEEPER PROFILE
TRT: 5.25
SOURCE: MONUC
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2009, RUTSHURU, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
14 APRIL 2009, RUTSHURU, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
1. Wide shot, people in Rutshuru town
2. Med shot, UN soldiers walking
3. Pan, from monkey to UN soldier
4. Med shot, UN soldier looking at camp
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“My aim was to be in a different profession, I should not be a normal girl doing the normal thing. Everybody in this world is only going after the money and that is what is making them to go after different professions. But my aim is not only to earn money; I want to do something different other than a normal lady from a certain part of India.”
6. Various shots, soldier walking and saluting Alamu
7. Pan, soldiers at ease and Alamu giving instructions
8. Close up, soldiers listening
9. Med shot, Alamu instructing soldiers
10. Close up, Alamu watching
11. Med shot, Alamu flagging down jeep on the road and talking to soldier
12. Med shot, Alamu talking to soldier in jeep
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“I behave in such a manner that there should be no any feminine quality in my work. I’m an officer so I do my things in a professional way, I also approach things in a professional manner and this makes the job done from them.”
14. Pan, Alamu meeting women
15. Tracking shot, feet
16. Med shot, Alamu and women entering house
17. Close up, Alamu hugging and kissing woman
18. Med shot, Alamu holding baby
19. Med shot, man explaining to Alamu
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“The male domination is more in this country compared to women. So that is why the FARDC officers and PNC whom I’ve met wondered how a woman can be an officer and men can salute her? They find this a strange thing for them and they don’t want to accept it in a good manner.”
21. Pan, Alamu carrying baby
22. Tracking shot, Alamu carrying baby
23. Close up, woman
24. Various shots, Alamu in dialogue with women
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“There should be proper justice given to such persons who rape, they should be punished and given proper justice. That way this problem will reduce in this country.”
26. Wide shot, UN truck
27. Med shot, women selling sugarcane
28. Zoom out, Alamu stopping UN truck and talking to soldiers
29. Wide shot, Alamu walking away from truck
30. Pan shot, truck driving off
The Rutshuru-Kiwanja axis of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Scene of some of the fiercest fighting between the government and the rebel CNDP forces last year.
Now quiet and stable, with MONUC enforcing a still-fragile peace and helping restore the government's authority.
Meet Captain Alamu, the Public Information Officer in the Indian battalion that is part of the several that comprise the North Kivu Brigade of MONUC.
Captain Alamu’s battalion is based in Kiwanja, where thousands of IDPs had fled for protection.
The youngest daughter and second-born in her family, Captain Alum comes from the southern part of India.
The Captain says that she actually went into engineering, and then later the army, as a way of carving a new and un-traditional path for herself.
SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“My aim was to be in a different profession, I should not be a normal girl doing the normal thing. Everybody in this world is only going after the money and that is what is making them to go after different professions. But my aim is not only to earn money; I want to do something different other than a normal lady from a certain part of India.”
As a female officer, she asserts that only by maintaining a professional bearing has she been able to get the job done.
She does note that the Congolese army and police have had some difficulty adjusting to a female of rank.
SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“I behave in such a manner that there should be no any feminine quality in my work. I’m an officer so I do my things in a professional way, I also approach things in a professional manner and this makes the job done from them.”
As part of her job, Captain Alamu makes sure to stay in touch with the local community, especially by making the rounds of women's groups in her area.
SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“The male domination is more in this country compared to women. So that is why the FARDC officers and PNC whom I’ve met wondered how a woman can be an officer and men can salute her? They find this a strange thing for them and they don’t want to accept it in a good manner.”
Sexual violence against women and children has been endemic throughout the conflict in the DRC.
Captain Alamu lends a sympathetic ear to women victims of the violence and offers whatever assistance she can. She believes that the only way to address the problem is if the rule of law is upheld, and the offenders are held to account for their actions.
SOUNDBITE (English) Captain Alamu, MONUC Indian Battalion:
“There should be proper justice given to such persons who rape, they should be punished and given proper justice. That way this problem will reduce in this country.”
With a few months left before she returns back to India, Captain Alamu will continue doing what she knows best as a female peacekeeping officer.
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