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STORY: SYRIA / REFUGEE
TRT: 2:53
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 18 JUNE 2010, DAMASCUS, SYRIA
1. Wide shot, Damascus refugee suburb early morning
2. Wide shot, Young Rashid daughters study
3. Close up, Younger daughter studying
4. Close up, Elder daughter writing
5. Zoom out, Gailan Rashid settling against a wall
6. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid leading family out of the door
7. Med shot, Gailan Rashid walking along street with sister:
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Gailan Rashid:
“I always want you to keep succeeding in your studies. That’s why, originally, I stopped going to school so you can continue your education.”
9. Wide shot: Gailan Rashid and sister walking to her exams
10. Med shot: Gailan Rashid walking along the street
11. Med shot: Gailan Rashid talking to camera about life
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Gailan Rashid:
“Our financial situation is very bad. I wish to go back to study and for my parents to be comfortable. My mum and Dad are both ill. I get 1500SYP a week so it’s insufficient.”
13. Med shot, father of the Rashid family talking to Gailan Rashid
14. Wide shot, World Food Project rice bags
15. Close up, World Food Project bags
16. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid checking there’s no one around outside factory
17. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid walks around underground factory working
18. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid sweeps up factory floor
19. Wide shot, factory works sow clothes
20. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid sweeps up factory floor
21. Wide shot, factory workers stitch clothes
22. Wide shot, Father of the Rashid family talking to camera
23. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Rashid:
“I feel he has a certificate that he got from real life experience because he is such a great man to sacrifice himself for the sake of his family.”
24. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid looks in the mirror
25. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid washes a glass
26. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid mops the floor
27. Wide shot, Gailan’s mother looks at her sleeping son
28. Wide shot, Gailan Rashid sleeping on the floor in the living room
The words of the morning prayer call have barely finished echoing through the empty Damascus streets before the Rashid daughters are out of bed and eagerly flicking through text books.
Unlike their brother Gailan they’ve been studying and thriving here in Syria since they sought refuge from Iraq in 2008.
As the family’s sole wage earner, though, 16-year-old Gailan hasn’t been in school since he came to Syria.
Within minutes of getting home from a 16-hour shift in a clothes factory Gailan is usually asleep. But today is exam day and he’s offered to escort his brother and sisters to school. A journey that allows him time to reflect.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Gailan Rashid:
I always want you to keep succeeding in your studies. That’s why, originally, I stopped going to school so you can continue your education.”
In many respects Gailan has fallen through the safety net. The Syrian government laudably welcomes all refugee children into its schools but many like Gailan have had to turn away from education - usually for financial reasons.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Gailan Rashid:
“Our financial situation is very bad. I wish to go back to study and for my parents to be comfortable. My mum and Dad are both ill. I get 1500SYP a week so it’s insufficient.”
The background of the family’s flight from Iraq are clear. His father still bears the scars of a market bomb blast and a violent abduction.
But their reasons for staying in Syria fade every day. Reliant on UN aid the savings have run out and Gailan, himself the subject of a violent kidnapping in Iraq, has also experienced violence in Syria.
Gailan’s lack of formal school education is compounded by the mundane nature of his work.
Essentially janitorial chores in a textiles factory nestled underground in a dusty, chaotic Damascus suburb. Gailan learns little here, as his father concedes.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abu Ghazal Rashid:
“I feel he has a certificate that he got from real life experience because he is such a great man to sacrifice himself for the sake of his family.”
Likewise, the Ministry of Education, UNICEF and partners such as the European Union are trying to find ways of easing dropout refugees back into school. Their joint programme of support for the Syrian education system is focused on providing remedial classes for Iraqis who have suffered prolonged absences from school.
These are collective efforts to help those like Gailan so they too can exercise their right to a safe and constructive education.
