THAILAND / TSUNAMI +5 - PROTECTION

Since the tsunami, UNICEF has been supporting and training social workers in Thailand to protect children who have been orphaned due to various circumstances and to work with the communities so their children recover from the tragedy. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:43
• Production Date: 24 December 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• MAMS Id: U091224a

Description

STORY: THAILAND / TSUNAMI +5 - PROTECTION
TRT: 1:43
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / THAI

DATELINE: 13, 17 SEPTEMBER 2009, KRABI & PHANG NGA PROVINCES, THAILAND

Shotlist

1. Various shots, motorcycle running on a road leading to a village in Krabi province
2. Various shots, meeting in home of 17 year old Nok (with back to camera), together with Tuangporn Dumrith, Social Worker (in check shirt) and Nantaporn Ieumwananonthachai, UNICEF child protection officer
3. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Nok , sexual abuse victim :
“I was worried about coming back to the village. But with the support of my Mum and her friends, and helped by the social workers, I have become accepted once more.”
4. Various shots, Nok and mother doing dishes in the darkness to hide their identities
5. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Tuangporn Dumrith, Social Worker:
“We were first alerted by the school, who said she didn’t want to go out and was even suicidal.”
6. Various shots, Arisara Funpetch (11 yo) and her Grandmother Sri-udorn Suyapan making flowers from green leaves
7. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Arisara Funpetch, orphan:
“I came to live with my grandparents because the auntie I was living with couldn’t take care of me, and I never saw my father.”
8. Various shots, Arisara studying in class.
9. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Sumet Buabucha, Social Development Officer, Phang Nga Province:
“I’m very happy with the recovery after five years, but it will take longer to say everything is completely OK. I’m also pleased with the co-ordination between different agencies helping children.”
10. Various shots, children from Baan Bang Muang school, leaving at the end of classes
11. Tracking shot, Nantaporn Ieumwananonthachai, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Thailand, with Arisara and her Grandmother.

Storyline

In a remote village in Thailand’s Krabi province, 17-year old Nok is gradually overcoming her ordeal, helped by her social worker.

When she was 15, she was sexually abused by her step-father, becoming pregnant.

SOUNDBITE (Thai) Nok , sexual abuse victim :
“I was worried about coming back to the village. But with the support of my Mum and her friends, and helped by the social workers, I have become accepted once more.”

And her return to the scene of that abuse, has taken a major effort.

Since the tsunami, UNICEF has supported training and greater resources for social workers in this province, which have helped them better follow up cases like Nok’s.

SOUNDBITE (Thai) Tuangporn Dumrith, Social Worker:
“We were first alerted by the school, who said she didn’t want to go out and was even suicidal.”

In a neighbouring province, 11 year old Arisara is now cared for by her grandparents after losing her mother in the tsunami, and with her father working and living in another province.

SOUNDBITE (Thai) Arisara Funpetch, orphan:
“I came to live with my grandparents because the auntie I was living with couldn’t take care of me, and I never saw my father.”

She, like other pupils in this tsunami-affected school, receive the support of social workers for their continued recovery.

SOUNDBITE (Thai) Sumet Buabucha, Social Development Officer, Phang Nga Province:
“I’m very happy with the recovery after five years, but it will take longer to say everything is completely OK. I’m also pleased with the co-ordination between different agencies helping children.”

Communities brought together by a shared tragedy, and working consistently in the five years since, so their children should recover from it.