SOUTH SUDAN / BABY NYARIEK

Baby Nyariek’s mother gave birth in Juba, then was shot and died the same day, a victim of South Sudan’s return to civil strife. Nyariek means “Problem”, a sad reminder of what happened. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:13
• Production Date: 17 January 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: SOUTH SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U140117e

Description

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / BABY NYARIEK
TRT: 2:13
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NUER / NATS

DATELINE: 13 JANUARY 2014, JUBA SOUTH SUDAN

Shotlist

1. Close up, Baby Nyariek (“Problem”)
2. Wide shot, Mary Nyakaka, Baby’s grandmother, sitting with her
3. Close up, Baby Nyariek (“Problem”)
4. Close up, Baby bottle being shaken by grandmother
5. Close up, Baby Nyariek (“Problem”)in her grandmother’s lap
6. Wide shot, Gatwech Gok, Nyariek’s father, walking in the compound
7. Med shot, Familiy in the tent
8. Wide shot, family in the tent
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Gatwech Gok, Nyariek’s father:
“’You bring money, if you have no money now I will kill you’, After that, the mother said ‘I only have this baby. I don’t have money’. Then they shot her two bullets. They came from here, then she died.”
10. Close up, Baby Nyariek’s siblings
11. SOUNDBITE (NUER) Mary Nyakaka, Nyariek’s grandmother:
“I have not been sleeping. The whole of my body is swollen, nothing to eat here. We need water and milk for the child. We need shelter too. This one is too hot inside.”
12. Wide shot, Compound
13. Med shot, Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in front of a tent
14. Med shot, Boy drinking directly from a faucet
15. Med shot, Woman filing a plastic jug with water
16. Med shot, Gatwech Gok wiping tears out of his daughter’s face
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Gatwech Gok, Nyariek’s father:
“It’s very difficult to take care of them, we are without food. It’s cold here, everyone here including me, we have deep cough”.
18. Wide shot, IDPs walking in the UN compound
19. Close up, Baby Nyariek’s young brother in his father’s lap
20. Close up, Gatwech Gok in tears
21. Close up, Baby Nyariek (“Problem”)

Storyline

One month old, baby “Nyariek” will never know her mother. Her mother gave birth, but was shot and tragically died the same day, a victim of South Sudan’s return to civil strife.

Nyariek, translated, means “Problem”. A sad reminder of what happened.
Problem’s father fled marauding soldiers to save his own life.

When he returned, he heard the news. He recounts how he lost his wife.

SOUNDBITE (English) Gatwech Gok, Nyariek’s father:
“’You bring money, if you have no money now I will kill you’, After that, the mother said ‘I only have this baby. I don’t have money’. Then they shot her two bullets. They came from here, then she died.”

Nyariek and her two sisters are looked after by their grandmother now.

SOUNDBITE (NUER) Mary Nyakaka, Nyariek’s grandmother:
“I have not been sleeping. The whole of my body is swollen, nothing to eat here. We need water and milk for the child. We need shelter too. This one is too hot inside.”

Since fighting broke out last month in South Sudan, close to eighteen thousand people have been displaced and sought refuge in this UN peacekeepers’ base.

The ongoing insecurity worries Problem’s father. He is unsure how he will take care of his family.

SOUNDBITE (English) Gatwech Gok, Nyariek’s father:
“It’s very difficult to take care of them, we are without food. It’s cold here, everyone here including me, we have deep cough”.

Baby “Problem” was born into the world’s newest nation: South Sudan.

Two fragile years of peace have seen a return to violence and tears and little sense of if or when security might return. For some, it will always be too late.