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SOMALIA / LIFEGUARDS
STORY: SOMALIA / LIFEGUARDS
TRT: 3:38
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SOMALI / NATS
DATELINE: 31 JANUARY 2014, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Wide shot, pan of Lido beach
2. Med shot, people at the beach
3. Close up, children swimming with an inner-tire tube
4. Wide shot, people at the beach with lifeguard on watch
5. Med shot, lifeguard on his high chair
6. Med shot, lifeguard on the lookout
7. Close up, lifeguard face
8. Wide shot, motorboats patrolling
9. Med shot, people swimming
10. Med shot, Mogadishu District Commissioner in a lifeboat
11. Wide shot, DC in the lifeboat
12. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Abdullahi Hussein Hassan, Abdiaziz District Commissioner:
“I am very happy that this project has been initiated and it’s saving lives. As you can see that there are lots of people here not only from this area but all parts of the city and outside as well. They have come here and are having fun and after they can go home safe.”
13. Wide shot, lifeguards on the look out from their boats
13. Close up, Omar Haji Mohamud, Lido beach Life Guard
14. Med shot, people swimming
15. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Omar Haji Mohamud, Lido Beach Life Guard:
“People often drown because the waves are heavy and they pull them to sea and many don’t know how to swim, so we go and rescue them. Every weekend we save many lives without pay, we volunteer our time and experience. The district commissioner provides us with the fuel we need.”
16. Wide shot, lifeboat patrolling as people swim
17. Wide shot, people swimming as boat speeds by
18. Wide shot, pan, people pushing the lifeboats
19. VOXPOP (Somali) Mohamed Omar, Mogadishu Resident:
“There were a lot of challenges before and people lost their lives, but now we have boats to save people which is an improvement from the government. We want to thank them for that and it shows that they are supporting the youth.”
20. VOXPOP (Somali) Osman, Mogadishu Resident:
“I come here every Friday and I am happy with the improvement being made because it allows me to swim safely.”
21. VOXPOP (English) Mohamed Yusuf, Spokesperson Mogadishu Mayor’s Office:
“You see I am here without my security guard, I am enjoying with my generation without fear. I am not fearing now compared back to three years ago, al Shabaab was controlling this area, no one, none of us could come here, even us, so today we are free and we have to thank the African Union, our friends of the African Union, they give us an opportunity to defeat al Shabaab.”
22. Med shot, pan from man swimming to the beach23. Wide shot, boat with lifeguards patrolling
Sun, sand and plenty of fun, mark a day at the beach; but this beach is in one of the least expected places. Lido beach in the heart of the Somali capital Mogadishu has come alive and people here are making the best of the weekend. This was not the case just 3 years ago when al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda aligned extremist group run this city, but times have changed.
With thousands of city residents finally able to enjoy their country’s seashores, a team of lifeguards has been trained by the municipality to ensure their safety and reduce the number of drowning cases that have occurred in the past.
The project was initiated by the Mogadishu Mayor’s office and the district commissioner of the area, tasked with implementing it. Abdullahi Hussein Hassan was a teacher before he became the commissioner; he remembers one of his students drowning at this very beach and was eager to safeguard others.
“I am very happy that this project has been initiated and it’s saving lives.” Says Abdullahi Hussein Hassan
“As you can see there are lots of people here not only from this area but all parts of the city and outside as well. They have come here and are having fun and after they can go home safe.”
The team of 15 lifeguards, volunteer their time and boats over the weekend, they are mostly fishermen from the area and the commissioner’s office provided them with training and gives them with fuel to run their boats.
“People often drown because the waves are heavy and it pulls them to sea and many don’t know how to swim, so we go and rescue them.” Says Omar Haji Mohamud, a fisherman turned lifeguard.
“Every weekend we save many lives without pay, we volunteer our time and experience. The districts commissioner provides us with fuel we need.”
Although it might not be much, the lifeguards and their boats are already having an impact, with many of the experienced swimmers and those hitting the waves for the first time glad that they are there.
“There were a lot of challenges before and people lost their lives,” says Mohamed Omar, a regular at the beach.
“But now we have boats to save people, which is an improvement from the government. We want to thank them for that and it shows that they are supporting the youth.”
“I come here every Friday and I am happy with the improvement being made because it allows me to swim safely,” says Osman a Mogadishu resident.
“You see I am here without my security guard, I am enjoying with my generation without fear.” adds Mohamed Yusuf, the spokesperson of the Mogadishu Mayor office.
“I am not fearing now compared to three years ago, al Shabaab was controlling this area, no one, none of us could come here, even us, so today we are free and we have to thank the African Union, our friends of the African Union, they give us an opportunity to defeat al Shabaab.”
The Commissioners’ office is expecting ten new rescue boats to help with the traffic at the beach and an emergency health centre has been set up to deal with injuries while swimming.
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