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STORY: MOZAMBIQUE / REFUGEE DOLLMAKER
TRT: 4:45
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: SWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: 27-29 FEBRUARY 2020, NAMPULA, MOZAMBIQUE
27-29 FEBRUARY 2020, NAMPULA, MOZAMBIQUE
1. Close ups, doll
2. Wide shot, girl playing with doll
3. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“For me they are like people, they are human. I give them features like eyes and ears, earrings.They make children happy. I also love them because they look like human beings.”
4. Various shots, Kituza making doll
5. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“The first time, I made only one. I took it to the Catholic church in the camp and I showed it to a nun called Giovanna. When she saw it, she loved it. She loved it so much she made an order for 160 dolls.”
6. Various shots, Kituza making doll
7. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I worked from morning till night. She took them to Italy and she paid me.”
8. Close up, Kituza cutting fabric
9. Close up, Kituza
10. Med shot, Kituza stuffing doll
11. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I love this work. It is part of me. I never went to school. Those who are educated are the ones who get jobs. For me, making these dolls helps me in the future and that is why I do it with all my heart.”
12. Various shots, Kituza making doll
13. Close up, Kituza crying
14. Close up, Kituza’s eyes
15. Various shots, Kituza making doll
16. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I have suffered a lot, it’s been a tough journey, but when I look at the dolls, I know that I made them, I feel relief. Yes.”
17. Med shot, dolls on table
18. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“These dolls teach us so much. We live with them as though they are human.”
19. Close ups, dolls
20. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“My hope is to continue making these dolls and to continue to make a living through this work. That is my hope.”
21. Close up, dolls
22. Close up, Kituza making doll
23. Med shot, Kituza hold doll
With each doll she makes, Kituza finds healing from the brutal assault she survived in her home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
When Kituza started making dolls, she wanted to make a living and support her family of five children but with time, her craft evolved into a form of therapy and an escape.
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“For me they are like people, they are human. I give them features like eyes and ears, earrings.They make children happy. I also love them because they look like human beings.”
Born in the DRC’s Uvira province, Kituza was kidnapped in 2008 after rebels attacked her hometown one night, raped her and killed her parents. She was only 16. She eventually escaped to Mozambique and settled in Maratane, a refugee camp in Nampula province that hosts about 9,000 refugees, mainly from the DRC and Burundi.
UNHCR is helping her manage and grow her business. She is the only one making dolls in the camp and her break came after she sold one of her creations to Catholic nun who then made a large order of 160 pieces.
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“The first time, I made only one. I took it to the Catholic church in the camp and I showed it to a nun called Giovanna. When she saw it, she loved it. She loved it so much she made an order for 160 dolls.”
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I worked from morning till night. She took them to Italy and she paid me.”
Kituza learnt to make dolls from a local church group in the camp in 2018. She uses second-hand materials and capulana – a colorful African fabric.
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I love this work. It is part of me. I never went to school. Those who are educated are the ones who get jobs. For me, making these dolls helps me in the future and that is why I do it with all my heart.”
UNHCR supports refugees like Kituza through programmes like the Graduation Approach - a project that supports the most vulnerable refugees and local Mozambicans, to work and start businesses so they can gradually reduce dependence on relief aid.
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“I have suffered a lot, it’s been a tough journey, but when I look at the dolls, I know that I made them, I feel relief. Yes.”
SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Kituza, Congolese refugee:
“My hope is to continue making these dolls and to continue to make a living through this work. That is my hope.”
Refugees’ access to work and their ability to be self-reliant is a crucial element of the Global Compact on Refugees, which calls for increased solidarity with refugees and the communities that host them.
