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WRD / TANZANIA BANTU HOMECOMING
STORY: WRD / TANZANIA BANTU HOMECOMING
TRT: 3.14
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ITALIAN / KISWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: MARCH 12-14, 2011, CHOGO, TANZANIA
1. Various shots, Somali Bantus performing traditional dances
2. Various shots, Kisito and his wife Esther join the dances
3. Various shots, Kisito farming his land
4. Various shots, Kisito and his wife Esther looking at a family picture album
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“We were despised, considered inferior, people who are worth nothing, who are not intelligent, and are not able to manage anything.”
6. Various shots, Kisito and his wife Esther look at old pictures of Somalia together, in front of their house
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
"I told my children, my wife, my family to flee and go to Kenya and then Tanzania. I told them to try to reach Tanzania, as that's our country of origin”
8. Wide shot, Kisito and his wife at the entrance of their home taking are of the garden
9. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther, Somali Bantu returnee:
“From Somalia, we came to Tanzania, but on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, the police arrested us. They tried to force us to go back to Kenya and live as refugees, but I refused to do it. I felt something pulling me to Tanzania, I could not stay in Kenya. I knew I had to come to Tanzania, where I would feel at home and free.”
10. Various shots, Esther sweeping
11. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther, Somali Bantu returnee:
“When he arrived here, I got new strength, in my body and in my heart. We started working again, pushing ahead, happy to be here together.”
12. Various shots, Kisito sharpening a machete
13. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“It was such a joy. In fact, when I received the Tanzanian Nationality document, in front of everybody, I kissed it. I was so happy that I even wanted to swallow it. I finally knew I returned to my real home. I forgot all the bad things I went through in Somalia.”
14. Various shots, couples daughters drawing water from a well
15. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“Here I have nothing, but I feel rich, more than when I was in Somalia. One Tanzanian Shilling for me is more valuable than a million Somali shillings because there I had money, but I did not have honour, I was not respected.”
16. Wide shot, Somali Bantus dancing at the sunset
For over four centuries thousands of Bantus lived in Somalia…..initially as slaves….then as free people, but never as citizens.
Kisito and Esther were there for more than four decades….yet they say they always felt like ‘strangers’.
Kisito was abandoned by his parents when he was 12. Italian missionaries in Mogadishu took him into their care.
He remembers a life of humiliation.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“We were despised, considered inferior, people who are worth nothing, who are not intelligent, and are not able to manage anything.”
In his mid forties he was reunited with his parents. But when the war erupted in Somalia, in the nineties, the family had to flee.
Kisito sent his wife and three daughters away. He didn’t want to seek asylum in just ‘any’ country, he wanted to move to the land of his ancestors, to Tanzania.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
"I told my children, my wife, my family to flee and go to Kenya and then Tanzania. I told them to try to reach Tanzania, as that's our country of origin”
Esther’s return to Tanzania, with only her children, was difficult. On the journey, she was imprisoned, but she persevered. There was no turning back.
SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther, Somali Bantu returnee:
“From Somalia, we came to Tanzania, but on the border between Kenya and Tanzania, the police arrested us. They tried to force us to go back to Kenya and live as refugees, but I refused to do it. I felt something pulling me to Tanzania, I could not stay in Kenya. I knew I had to come to Tanzania, where I would feel at home and free.”
When she arrived in Tanzania, UNHCR helped with supplies. She made ends meet.
But everything changed when her husband was finally able to join her.
SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther, Somali Bantu returnee:
“When he arrived here, I got new strength, in my body and in my heart. We started working again, pushing ahead, happy to be here together.”
Kisito and Esther, along with three thousand other Somali Bantus, returned to Tanzania as refugees. At first they settled in a camp. Then the government allocated them plots of land. This year, they were granted Tanzanian nationality.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“It was such a joy. In fact, when I received the Tanzanian Nationality document, in front of everybody, I kissed it. I was so happy that I even wanted to swallow it. I finally knew I returned to my real home. I forgot all the bad things I went through in Somalia.”
Life here is not easy. Poverty is rampant in Chogo and land is the only asset Kisito has… but that matters less than the fact that he is home.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Kisito, Somali Bantu returnee:
“Here I have nothing, but I feel rich, more than when I was in Somalia. One Tanzanian Shilling for me is more valuable than a million Somali shillings because there I had money, but I did not have honour, I was not respected.”
For the first time in their lives Kisito and his family enjoy the same rights as people living around them.
The children can go to school, get health care. Most importantly, they clearly belong somewhere. They have come home.
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