GUINEA / ACROBAT TRAINING

UNICEF works with local partners to get children off the streets in Guinea through sport and life skills. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:39
• Production Date: 7 April 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; EDUCATION; TRAINING PROGRAMMES; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: GUINEA
• MAMS Id: U100407c

Description

STORY: GUINEA / ACROBAT TRAINING
TRT: 2.39
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 4-5 MARCH 2010, CONAKRY, GUINEA

Shotlist

CONAKRY, GUINEA, 4 MARCH 2010

1. Med shot, 28th September stadium’s entrance
2. Close up, sign reading “28th September stadium”
3. Pan right, stadium of the 28th September to acrobatic center
4. Med shot, door of the hall of the acrobatics center, with children watching
5. Wide shot, children rehearsing acrobatics in the acrobatics center from above
6. Pan right, children practicing acrobatics and training
7. Close up, children practicing a pirouette
8. Med shot, acrobats
9. Pan left, children practicing contortionism
10. Med shot, young contortionist
11. Med shot, Ibrahima Bamba, head of the acrobatics center, teaching
12. Close up, Bamba counselling a child
13. SOUNDBITE (French) Ibrahima Bamba, Head of Acrobatic Centre:
“They’re happy, they come everyday here, I see some of them who became stars, they start constructing their lives, and it makes me very happy.”
14. Med shot, children rehearsing the contortionism show
15. Pan right, children acrobats holding and preparing plates of food to children
16. Close up, plates full of rice on the ground
17. Pan right, desk to professor teaching the acrobats
18. Med shot, girl standing up, reading a text
19. SOUNDBITE (French) Hadja Kade Sek, Tinafan Head Teacher:
“They didn’t have the chance to go to the real school with the other children, and now they’re here, we also want them to learn a bit of what the others are learning on top of their performance as acrobats.”

CONAKRY, GUINEA, 5 MARCH 2010

20. Tilt down, boy standing on the roof of a car to boy carrying xylophone
21. Med shot, boy carrying a Djembe, African percussion
22. Wide shot, people entering the inauguration room, percussions on the ground
23. Pan right, banner reading “Official launch of the activities of the percussion academy”
24. Med shot, artists performing percussions, banner at the back
25. Close up, artists playing Djembe
26. SOUNDBITE (French) Julien Harneis, UNICEF’s Representative in Guinea:
“The idea behind this is to build on what’s strong in the Guinean culture itself, and try and find something that can have a worldwide reputation and get out of the village, the city and the country and show something exceptional.”
27. Pan left, children saluting the public at the end of the show rehearsal

Storyline

The September 28th stadium, the center stage of recent civil unrest in Guinea, is now a venue for hope.

Part of the complex has been turned into a rehearsal room with a mission. Children come everyday to learn acrobatics and transform their lives.

In this poor West African nation, one in four children home is on the streets and without support, they are exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, including prostitution.

The association TINAFAN helps get them off the streets into a safe haven where they receive support and counseling.

SOUNDBITE (French) Ibrahima Bamba, head of the acrobatic center:
”They’re happy, they come everyday here, I see some of them who became stars, they start constructing their lives, and it makes me very happy.”

The children get one full meal per day to help them keep in shape and thrive.

For those who dropped out or never went to school, the association also provides them with literacy and vocational training.

SOUNDBITE (French) Hadja Kade Sek, Tinafan Head Teacher:
“They didn’t have the chance to go to the real school with the other children, and now they’re here, we also want them to learn a bit of what the others are learning on top of their performance as acrobats.”

To help promote and protect the rights of street children, UNICEF recently extended its support to a local organization so they can open a percussion academy.

Now, street children can also learn music, a very popular art in the West African nation and birthplace of the Djembe.

SOUNDBITE (French) Julien Harneis, UNICEF’s Representative in Guinea.
“The idea behind this is to build on what’s strong in the Guinean culture itself, and try and find something that can have a worldwide reputation and get out of the village, the city and the country and show something exceptional.”

The goal now is to build up partnerships with world renowned circuses to take this high wire act further and help the children in Guinea.