JORDAN/ ZATARI REFUGEE CHILDREN

The UNICEF Emergency Programmes director visited Syrian children in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan this week, where the classroom is a haven for children caught in the largest refugee crisis the world has seen in 20 years. (UNICEF)

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:13
• Production Date: 22 August 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: JORDAN; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U130822e

Description

STORY: JORDAN/ UNICEF VISIT
TRT: 1.13
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: ZA’ATARI REFUGEE CAMP, JORDAN, 21 AUGUST 2013

Shotlist

1. Wide shot,classroom at the Za’Atari refugee Camp school
2. Med shot,UNICEF director of emergency programmes Ted Chaiban talking to students
3. Med shot, UNICEF director of communications Paloma Escudero talking to students
4.SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes:
“There are over four million children affected in the sub region both inside Syria, over three million children inside Syria, over 1.2 million children who are refugees outside of Syria in terms of projected numbers and we see this as a children’s crisis first and foremost because they’re the ones who feel the violence most directly, They’re the ones who are affected by the violence.”
5. Med shot, Paloma Escudero talking to students
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director of Communication:
“They want to go back to normal life. They want to go back to being in school, to playing with their friends to having a normal life with their parents and I feel that’s what we owe these children. To go back to a safe environment, to go back to school, to go back to a healthy and safe life.”
7. Med shot, Ted Chaiban waving school children goodbye

Storyline

At Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, Syrian children are beginning to imagine a life beyond the conflict that has driven them from their homes.

This classroom is a haven for children caught in the largest refugee crisis the world has seen in 20 years. According to UNICEF twelve thousand children were registered for school in Za’atari, but there should be 40 thousand children.

This week the students at the Za’atari school received a visit from UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes Ted Chaiban and UNICEF Director of communication Paloma Escudero.

SOUNDBITE (English) Ted Chaiban UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes:
“We’re going into the new school year in September where most children around the world are thinking I’m going back to school I’m going to see my friends. And yet for the Syrian child, for many Syrian children they’re worried about security, they’re worried about displacement, they’re worried about what’s going to happen to them.”

Syrian children told UNICEF Director of Communication Paloma Escudero that they were grateful to be safe in Jordan. But they yearn for the normalcy of their old lives.

SOUNDBITE (English) Paloma Escudero, UNICEF Director of Communication
“They want to go back to normal life. They want to go back to being in school, to playing with their friends to having a normal life with their parents and I feel that’s what we owe these children. To go back to a safe environment, to go back to school, to go back to a healthy and safe life.”

Za’atari is now the second largest refugee camp in the world. It’s home to more than half of the 600,000 refugees who have flooded into Jordan. And it’s just one part of the regional crisis that threatens to overwhelm the countries that border Syria.