TURKEY / SYRIAN REFUGEES

Parents who fled the violence in Syria set up a makeshift school for their children in a quiet house outside Antakya in southern Turkey. Headmaster Mustafa Shakir said that many of the school's 196 children were struggling to come to terms with the violence and loss of loved ones. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:47
• Production Date: 10 May 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA; TURKEY
• MAMS Id: U120510b

Description

STORY: TURKEY / SYRIAN REFUGEES
TRT: 1.47
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 30 MARCH, 1 APRIL 2012, TURKEY

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, classroom
2. Close up, child writing into notebook
3. Med shot, classroom
4. Close up, notebook
5. Med shot, headmaster with child’s painting
6. Close up, child’s drawing
7. Close up, tea cup
8. Close up, child’s eyes
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Sayed,16 years old:
“One of my friends was shot here [points to his chest]. I was asking him ‘what’s wrong with you?’ but he couldn’t speak.”
10. Close up, child’s hands
11. Close up wrist watch
12. Med shot, blurred, child’s face
13. Med shot, headmaster
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Mustafa Shakir, Headmaster
“There are a lot of difficulties but the most worst is the psychological state of the children coming from Syria, especially when they have seen blood and dead bodies and attacking and destroying buildings, they can’t concentrate.”
15. Wide shot, temporary housing, exterior
16. Med shot, exterior temporary housing
17. Med shot, exterior temporary housing
18. Med shot, children in yard
19. Med shot, child, blurred
20. Med shot, children in yard
21. Med shot, children in yard
22. Med shot, feet on gate
23. Med shot, hands on gate

Storyline

In a suburban home outside Antakya near the Turkey/Syria border, parents who have fled the violence in Syria have set up a makeshift school for their children.

For many of the students, it’s a welcome taste of normality as the atrocity and deprivation continues in their homeland, much of which has played out in front of their eyes on the streets where they grew up.

At first glance the children appear cheerful, but you only have to look at the paintings hanging on the walls of the art classroom to get a sense of what they’ve endured.

The pictures show tanks and snipers firing into houses and the funeral of a man, woman and child, their wounds clearly marked in red ink.

In the headmaster’s office, Sayed, a 16-year-old student, spoke about his final days in Syria.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Sayed,16 years old:
“One of my friends was shot here [points to his chest]. I was asking him ‘what’s wrong with you?’ but he couldn’t speak.”

Syed himself can not speak when he recalls what happened. Two of his best friends later died of their injuries.

When asked how he feels about everything that had happened, Sayed simply begins to weep.

The headmaster, Mustafa Shakir, said that that many of the school’s 196 children are struggling to come to terms with the past, and that assistance is urgently needed to help them reclaim their future.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Mustafa Shakir, Headmaster:
“There are a lot of difficulties but the most worst is the psychological state of the children coming from Syria, especially when they have seen blood and dead bodies and attacking and destroying buildings, they cant concentrate.”

Those who fled Syria without the means to support themselves remain housed in semi-permanent camps built by the Turkish government.

Syrian refugee children living in Turkey are now stuck in limbo, their lives interrupted by violence and upheaval. Their future remains unclear. No one knows when, or even if, they will be able to return home.