SOMALIA / KISMAAYO MARSHALLER

Following Somalia’s descent into anarchy and civil war 20 years ago, the civil aviation authority ceased to operate and staff fled the airport, leaving marshaller Adnan to single-handedly run the operations at the Kismayo airport. AU/UN IST

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:28
• Production Date: 18 January 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA – AMISOM
• Subject Topical: AIR TRANSPORT
• Geographic Subject: SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: U140118a

Description

STORY: SOMALIA / KISMAAYO MARSHALLER
TRT: 2:28
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
LANGUAGE: SOMALI/ NATS

DATELINE: 4 JANUARY 2014, KISMAAYO, SOMALIA

Shotlist

1. Med shot, marshaller
2. Wide shot, marshaller walking in the village
3. Med shot, marshaller entering the airport
4. Wide shot, marshaller next to airplane
5. Close up, marshaller
6. Med shot, marshaller standing on the slander
7. Close up, marshaller with equipment
8. Med shot, marshaller instructing pilots where to park the aircraft
9. Med shot, mashallerd directing the pilot to stop
10. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Adan Marshaller:
"I have been working here for the last twenty three years. After the civil war in the country."
11. Med shot, marshaller standing behind ladder
12. Close up, people boarding aircraft
13. Wide shot, UN aircraft coming to apron
14. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohamed Adan Marshaller:
"I'm requesting better equipments and skills from the international community. Because we don't have stable government that can help us."
15. Wide shot, Kismayo airport and UN aircraft
16. Med shot, UN airplane
22. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Abdi nor Kadiye:
"Aden Mohamed Aden AKA canto who was working in this airport for a long period of time. He is hardworking and polite. Since we have started our flight operations in Kismayo airport, Aden collaborated with us and we really appreciate for all what has done for us."
23. Wide shot, the view of the airport and people going outside

Storyline

It’s a bright morning in Kismayo, a port city in southern Somalia. Adan Mohamed slowly emerges from a mud-walled house, his orange reflector vest clashing with the determined sun. It’s another working day, similar to the last 30 years he has worked as an airport marshaller at the Kismayo airport.

“A marshaller is someone who guides the aircraft when it lands and leads it to the docking area,” explains the father of four who handles an average of fourteen flights a week.

Adan is the only employee at the Kismayo airport. Following Somalia’s descent into anarchy and civil war twenty years ago, the civil aviation authority ceased to operate and staff fled the airport.

But not Adan, he chose to stay there and during two decades of incessant violence, he has single-handedly run the operations at the airport.

While the runway is intact, the airport facilities, now managed by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), can be described as basic at best.

“There are challenges,” he says. “That is expected because this is a country that has been without law and order for a long time.”

As a commercial airplane taxies off the runway to the terminal, Adan employs his wooden paddles that he had to fashion himself due to the lack of equipment, and skillfully guides the plane to its place on tarmac.

The passengers begin descending and quickly rush into the terminal; few bother to look in the way of the man who just helped them arrive safely. Adan is used to such indifference.

In more than twenty years, the airport has changed hands from clan militias to Al Shabaab, to rag-tag government aligned forces before the city was finally liberated.

Meanwhile, Adan guided the planes across tarmac without pay since the collapse of the central government.

“It is what I studied. Anyone who is trained for a profession loves that profession and even if there are challenges, the passion is still there. I have been here for so long and I've persevered because I love my job,” says Adan.