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SYRIA / CHILDREN VOICES
STORY: SYRIA/ CHILDREN VOICES
TRT: 6.54
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC/ NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2013, BAB AL SALAMA, SYRIA
1. Various shots, Sami Belshi with children’s drawings (L cut)
2. Med shot, iphone with children’s drawing (L cut)
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir Belshi, art teacher:
“My name is Samir Belshi. I’ve been an art teacher for 13 years. Most of the children have the same mental problems now from the blood and destruction. If they see a plane they start trembling and get scared. Whenever they hear an explosion, they say ‘it's a scud’, they fired scuds at us. They’ve become afraid of any loud noise; even the sound of a car. In their sleep the children have nightmares that they are imprisoned in this camp. The children have not done anything wrong. They haven’t destroyed anything or shed any blood. But they are paying the price. Children are innocent, and they are beautiful creatures. They deserve to be alive and to look at life from their point of view, no matter where they are from or what religion they follow. They’re just children.”
4. Various shots, children’s drawings (L cut)
5. Wide shot, Bab Al Salama camp
6. Med shot, children at camp playing
7. Med shot, bowl with tomatoes on table (L Cut)
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Abdel Ghani, 12:
“Airplanes and artillery were shelling us, that's why we fled, my little brother started to cry whenever he heard a jet. We wake up, we have breakfast, afterwards we go to school and then to the mosque to learn Quran, but people steal our shoes. Then we sell biscuits and cookies and try to support our father. In the evening we go to sleep. We aren’t earning much, people just give us tips like one pound, we can earn maximum 50 Turkish pounds per day so we can buy good. We want clothes and somebody to fix the bathroom, better food, that’s what we need urgently. Because the food we get here isn’t enough and when they cook they use lots of salt to make the food ready faster, so we vomit a lot.
Now we have to stay here, we can’t go back to our houses because of bombing, and we’ve been here for 6 months, we’ve registered but we still can’t get into Turkey.”
9. Wide shot, Mohammed and sibling inside tent (L cut)
10. Med shot, egg carton on table (L Cut)
11. Various shots, food post in camp (L Cut)
12. Med shot, bottles of drink on table of food post
13. Med shot, tea being served (L cut)
14. Med shot, man serving tea (L cut)
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Aysa Guan, 11:
“My dad was killed when he was unloading potatoes from a truck at the freezer depot. A jet came and bombed him, 10 people were killed, let alone how many were injured. Before in our village we used to go to school to study, but here we have no real school, and nowhere to learn. (How do you spend your day?) Just walking in the mud, getting food and water. In the village things were better. Now we don't smile after my father (was killed) I want to be a teacher after the war, but where’s the school to learn, let alone teach? I haven’t finished the third grade yet, many schools have been bombed, crushed to the ground by the airplanes.”
16. Wide shot, camp view (L Cut)
17. Med shot, man and child (L Cut)
18. Med shot, hand opening water faucet (L Cut)
19. Med shot, man and children (L Cut)
20. Tilt down, from Raya to Raya’s cell phone with picture of her dead husband (L Cut)
21. Med shot, children listening
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raya Najaar, Aysa’s Mother:
“My name is Raya Najaar, my husband was killed when he was loading a refrigerator truck when he was at work. We fled because of the airplanes; I have four children. My children miss lots of basic stuff, like school, notebook etc. they don't get to learn. My children are going backwards. After my husband was killed I was left with 4 little children. Of course they can’t have a job because they are too young. They keep asking me for money for clothes and other needs, and I cant do anything about it. We don't get any money here, they just feed us with food that is not very nice. We can’t get healthy food there is very little schooling.
How has the death of your husband affected your children? How do you expect?”
23. Med shot, child using lenses looking at camera (L Cut)
24. Close up, hands (L Cut)
25. Med shot, young boy (L Cut)
26. Med shot, Raya sobbing
27. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Israa Masri, 12:
“My name is Israa Masri, I live in Marea and I’m 12 years old. They started bombing my town, houses were destroyed and people were killed. People started escaping to Turkey. My aunt couldn’t take it, she was just running around in the street and we were doing the same. Sometimes they cut off the water here, and there’s no electricity at all. Because of the rubbish and the bad smoke my mum got very sick for four months and my brothers and sisters suffered during that time.”
28. Med shot, camp corridor (L Cut)
29. Med shot, children at camp (L Cut)
30. Med shot, two boys playing at the camp (L Cut)
31. Wide shot, garbage bins at camp (L Cut)
32. Wide shot, boy at camp (L Cut)
33. Med shot, children at camp (L Cut)
34. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Najah, 10:
“My name is Najah and I’m 10 years old. We were in my village when the bombing started, and my aunt’s husband lost both his legs and he died. We got scared and we started having nightmares, so my dad brought us here. I like playing on the slides, the swings and skipping rope. We stay here in this house, we don't go out much. And about the school, it’s not like my home-town school. There are only boring games. And no skipping ropes, or swings or anything.
I want to be a doctor. My friends like to go and study, to play, to paint,
I hope things cool down, so we can go back home.”
Sami Belshi was an art teacher in Damascus before the war. For the last two months he has been working for the NGO ‘Child Friend Spaces’ teaching art to children in the camps. Many of the pictures his students produce show tanks, snipers and wounded people. The NGO regularly provides play sessions for 800 children in the camp. He said the children there seem unnaturally old for their age, a 10-year-old talks like an 18-year-old.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir Belshi, art teacher:
“My name is Samir Belshi. I’ve been an art teacher for 13 years. Most of the children have the same mental problems now from the blood and destruction. If they see a plane they start trembling and get scared. Whenever they hear an explosion, they say ‘it's a scud’, they fired scuds at us. They’ve become afraid of any loud noise; even the sound of a car. In their sleep the children have nightmares that they are imprisoned in this camp. The children have not done anything wrong. They haven’t destroyed anything or shed any blood. But they are paying the price. Children are innocent, and they are beautiful creatures. They deserve to be alive and to look at life from their point of view, no matter where they are from or what religion they follow. They’re just children.”
12 year old Mohammed Abdel Ghani, wanders around Bab al Salama camp selling small packets of biscuits. He is one of 12 children in his family and they have been in the camp for months. His father was a driver at a hospital in Aleppo before the war but now has a small stall in the refugee camp selling falafel and snacks.
The children are visibly cold because they don’t have enough clothing.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammed Abdel Ghani, 12:
“Airplanes and artillery were shelling us, that's why we fled, my little brother started to cry whenever he heard a jet. We wake up, we have breakfast, afterwards we go to school and then to the mosque to learn Quran, but people steal our shoes. Then we sell biscuits and cookies and try to support our father. In the evening we go to sleep. We aren’t earning much, people just give us tips like one pound, we can earn maximum 50 Turkish pounds per day so we can buy good. We want clothes and somebody to fix the bathroom, better food, that’s what we need urgently. Because the food we get here isn’t enough and when they cook they use lots of salt to make the food ready faster, so we vomit a lot.
Now we have to stay here, we can’t go back to our houses because of bombing, and we’ve been here for 6 months, we’ve registered but we still can’t get into Turkey.”
Aysa Guan and his mother and the rest of the family from Marea has been in the camp for six and a half months. They fled after their father, Bassam Guan, 35, was killed when the freezer plant where he worked was bombed. He was not involved in the war in any way. The family has four children between the age of nine and 13.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Aysa Guan, 11:
“My dad was killed when he was unloading potatoes from a truck at the freezer depot. A jet came and bombed him, 10 people were killed, let alone how many were injured. Before in our village we used to go to school to study, but here we have no real school, and nowhere to learn. (How do you spend your day?) Just walking in the mud, getting food and water. In the village things were better. Now we don't smile after my father (was killed) I want to be a teacher after the war, but where’s the school to learn, let alone teach? I haven’t finished the third grade yet, many schools have been bombed, crushed to the ground by the airplanes.”
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raya Najaar, Aysa’s Mother:
“My name is Raya Najaar, my husband was killed when he was loading a refrigerator truck when he was at work. We fled because of the airplanes; I have four children. My children miss lots of basic stuff, like school, notebook etc. they don't get to learn. My children are going backwards. After my husband was killed I was left with 4 little children. Of course they can’t have a job because they are too young. They keep asking me for money for clothes and other needs, and I can’t do anything about it. We don't get any money here, they just feed us with food that is not very nice. We can’t get healthy food there is very little schooling.
How has the death of your husband affected your children? How do you expect?”
Israa Masri is 12 years old, her and her twin sister have been in the camp for 10 months. Their family fled Marea after a plane bombed their neighbour’s house.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Israa Masri, 12:
“My name is Israa Masri, I live in Marea and I’m 12 years old. They started bombing my town, houses were destroyed and people were killed. People started escaping to Turkey. My aunt couldn’t take it, she was just running around in the street and we were doing the same. Sometimes they cut off the water here, and there’s no electricity at all. Because of the rubbish and the bad smoke my mum got very sick for four months and my brothers and sisters suffered during that time.”
Najah Najar is 10 and one of 6 children in her family. Her dad works for an NGO in the camp. They fled after their area in Marea was bombed. Her aunt’s husband had both his legs blown off and he died. The children started having nightmares.
Najah likes to go to school and go to the playground but she says there is little to do in the camp and they spend most days sitting indoors.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Najah, 10:
“My name is Najah and I’m 10 years old. We were in my village when the bombing started, and my aunt’s husband lost both his legs and he died. We got scared and we started having nightmares, so my dad brought us here. I like playing on the slides, the swings and skipping rope. We stay here in this house, we don't go out much. And about the school, it’s not like my home-town school. There are only boring games. And no skipping ropes, or swings or anything.
I want to be a doctor. My friends like to go and study, to play, to paint,
I hope things cool down, so we can go back home.”
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