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INDIA / MYANMAR REFUGEES
STORY: INDIA / MYANMAR REFUGEES
TRT: 4.49
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / TIDIM / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2011, DELHI, INDIA
1. Med shot, Delhi night market
2. Close up, vendor
3. Med shot, same vendor
4. Various shots, Vendors under lights
5. Med shot, Ni at Market
6. Close up, greens
7. Med shot, Ni and brother picking greens
8. Med shot, Ni and siblings walking
9. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“There was only one thing on my mind. I wanted to escape from the soldiers.”
10. Med shot, Ni picking tomatoes
11. Close up, tomatoes
12. Various shots, Ni and siblings
13. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“I had a plan, to come to Delhi. Then I would go to school and study. I would learn computer and English language.”
14. Close up, hands and faces at Don Bosco Centre
15. Med shot, Ni embroidering
16. Close up, face
17. Med shot, Ni and other unaccompanied children
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Yamini Pande UNHCR Protection Officer:
“It is a very long way and it is a difficult complicated route that they take. It’s mostly by foot until India and then by train to the north-east, but it is fairly insecure. They are with adults, usually, but not caregivers so it is a dangerous situation for them to be in.”
19. Close up, faces
20. Wide shot, faces
21. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Niang, younger sister:
“I was scared when we were travelling. I was scared of the people because I didn’t know the language. When we stopped and ate food, I was scared I would get lost.”
22. Various shots, English class at the Don Bosco Centre
23. Wide shot, class
24. Med sot, Ni in class
25. Wide shot, other students
26. Various shots, Ni and other students
27. Wide shot, Go Lam and Ni making a meal in their one room place
28. Med shot, Niang and other brother
29. Med shot, Ni and Go cutting potatoes
30. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, refugee from Myanmar:
“I was so happy, I cried a lot.”
31. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Niang, Younger Sister:
“I was so happy to see the sister I love.”
32. Various shots, Ni and siblings making dinner
33. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, refugee from Myanmar:
“The landlord asked us to leave the house, we don’t have money to buy rice and vegetables.”
34. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Go Lam, brother:
“Yes I happy we found my sister, unexpectedly. At the same time, when we don’t have enough food to eat, or enough money to buy food, I am not so happy.”
35. Med shot, Children in the room eating
36. Close up, younger children eating
37. Med shot, Ni eating
38. Wide shot, all together
39. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Go Lam, brother:
“I cannot work in a factory. I went for one day and they asked my age and I told them I am under 18. So the employer doesn’t want me to work there.”
40. Med shot, Ni outside their place
41. Med shot, Ni washing dishes
42. Med shot, Vendor at night market
43. Various shots, Ni and sibling walking in the market
44. Med shot, Niang and Go walking
45. SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, refugee from Myanmar:
“If it is possible, I just want to go home and stay with my parents. But right now it is not possible. If I go back home I know what the soldiers will do to me. I just want to stay here.”
46. Med shot, Ni and siblings picking up produce
47. Wide shot, they walk away
Fleeing the violence in Myanmar, thousands of refugees and asylum seekers find themselves in India without much assistance to survive.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has registered about 5,600 refugees and 4,000 asylum seekers but tens of thousands more, including unaccompanied children, remain unregistered.
For sixteen-year-old Ni Ang this is a place to come and scrounge for food.
She is looking for something to eat in what the vendors throw away for her and her younger siblings.
These four children on their own in Dehli; Ni fled Myanmar a little over two years ago.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“There was only one thing on my mind. I wanted to escape from the soldiers.”
The soldiers arrived one day demanding to know where her father was, she explained. She replied, the fields. They got angry and slapped her. Afraid, Ni ran away to a nearby friend’s house and then to India.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, refugee from Myanmar:
“I had a plan, to come to Delhi. Then I would go to school and study. I would learn computer and English.”
All the adolescents in this room are like Ni alone in Delhi without their parents.
Their journey is far from easy.
SOUNDBITE (English) Yamini Pande UNHCR Protection Officer:
“It is a very long way and it is a difficult complicated route that they take. It’s mostly by foot until India and then by train to the north-east, but it is fairly insecure. They are with adults, usually, but not caregivers so it is a dangerous situation for them to be in.”
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Niang, sister:
“I was scared when we were travelling. I was scared of the people because I didn’t know the language. When we stop and ate food, I was scared I would get lost.”
At the Don Bosco Centre, a UNHCR partner, young refugees like Ni get some assistance and training. But still, they are very much on their own to survive.
A few months ago, Ni’s two younger brothers and sister made the same journey to India.
Ni didn’t know they were fleeing. And her siblings didn’t know if she was even alive. Chance reunited them.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“I was so happy. I cried a lot.”
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Niang, sister:
“I was so happy to see the sister, I love.”
But the reunion was a mixed blessing. At first they lived with a family.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“The owner asked us to leave the house we don’t have money to buy rice and vegetables.”
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Go Lam, Brother:
“Yes I am happy we found my sister, unexpectedly. At the same time, when we don’t have enough food to eat, or enough money to buy food, I am not so happy.”
They rented a one room place bought a gas stove and a few mats for the floor. Together they feel safer, they say but they must fend for themselves to survive.
Go Lam, ran away when he was forced to be a porter for soldiers. He is looking for work but without much success.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Go Lam, Brother:
“I cannot work in a factory. I went for one day and they asked my age. I told them that I am under 18, so the employer doesn’t want me to work there.”
Ni receives 71 US dollars a month from UNHCR.
It pays the rent and the cooking gas but not much more. It’s thanks to the night market that they are able to make ends meet.
These are young faces aged by worry and the knowledge that going home is just not possible. UNHCR estimates that there are well over 600 unaccompanied children in the same situation.
SOUNDBITE (Tidim) Ni Ang, Refugee from Myanmar:
“If it is possible, I just want to go home and stay with my parents. But right now it is not possible. If I go back home I know what the soldiers will do to me. I just want to stay here.”
Ni’s siblings are waiting to see if they will be recognized as refugees too. If so, then they too will receive some assistance from UNHCR.
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