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STORY: CHAD / ISHMAEL BEAH
TRT: 3:08
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 9-10 JUNE, N’DJAMENA, CHAD
1. Med shot, kids playing soccer
2. Wide shot, kids playing soccer
3. Pull out soldiers to kids
4. Wide shot, soldiers walking
5. Med shot, tilt up soldier walking
6. Wide shot, pan gate to logos on wall
7. Wide shot, center
8. Med shot, boy in window
9. Wide shot, dorm room
10. Wide shot, boy drawing on wall
11. Close up, boy drawing
12. Tilt up, drawing
13. Wide shot, drawing
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Robert, 17 year old former child soldier:
“I joined the national army when I was 12 and fought for them for 4 years and then I joined the rebels, I was a soldier, a soldier of war.”
15. Med shot, boy drawing
16. Close up, boy reading
17. Close up, school book
18. Wide shot, boy reading
19. Close up, boy reading
20. Wide shot, boys and councilors talk to Ishmael
21. Med shot, boy listening to Ishmael
22. Med shot, Ishmael talking to boy
23. Wide shot, Ishmael listening to boys
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Ishmael Beah, UNICEF advocate for children affected by war:
“Whenever I visit such centers, like the place I went today, there’s always a bit of sadness. I feel like I can bring some assurance to some of the young kids there because I have been in a similar situation, I came to one of these centers very uncertain as to what the next stage of my life would be and where I am now so that they can understand that there are possibilities that lie ahead.”
25. Close up, gun drawing
26. Wide shot, gun drawing
27. Zoom in, gunman on truck
28. Ishmael walking through dorm
29. Med shot, Ishmael pointing at ‘stop recruitment’ poster
30. Close up, poster
31. Med shot, Ishmael watching mechanics
32. Med shot, mechanic working
33. Med shot, tilt down Ishmael and mechanics to engine
34. Pan right, chalk board to hopeful picture
35. Close up, hopeful picture
36. Med shot, boy drawing
37. Tilt up, boy drawing
In the dry dusty morning heat, barefoot kids in torn t-shirts run after an old deflated soccer ball.
They give the soldiers walking across their playground, a wide berth. This is N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, soldiers here are everywhere and in charge. For many of the kids, soldiers live an ideal life; they have smart uniforms, dark glasses and usually a scooter or at least a bicycle. Nobody tells them what to do.
Many kids here want to be soldiers and until 2007, many kids here could become soldiers, joining any one of a myriad of armed groups. But following a cooperation agreement between UNICEF and the government in 2007, Chad has withdrawn over 800 children from groups involved in armed conflict. Those children have entered rehabilitation centers and receive vocational training in a bid to stop them rejoining for economic reasons.
At this UNICEF supported transit and orientation center for demobilized child soldiers in downtown N’Djamena, young boys deal with their experiences of war through art; images of guns and fighting dominate; it is all they know.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Robert, 17 year old Former child soldier:
“I joined the national army when I was 12 and fought for them for 4 years and then I joined the rebels, I was a soldier, a soldier of war.”
At the center, run by Care international, in addition to the art therapy, the boys are able to draw on 24 hour counseling to help them adjust to life outside the war zone. They often arrive with violent, aggressive tendencies and suffer sleep disorders, but with time social workers are able to gain their trust.
They are given literacy and language classes, receive three meals a day and receive health care as many arrive with injuries sustained while fighting. The surrounding community is also involved in the center’s activities and is an important part of the reintegration process.
UNICEF’s advocate for children affected by war, Ishmael Beah, himself a former child soldier in Sierra Leone’s civil war visited the center.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ishmael Beah: UNICEF advocate for children affected by war:
“Whenever I visit such centers, like the place I went today, there’s always a bit of sadness. I feel like I can bring some assurance to some of the young kids there because I have been in a similar situation, I came to one of these centers very uncertain as to what the next stage of my life would be and where I am now so that they can understand that there are possibilities that lie ahead.”
The use of child soldiers globally is widespread. Around 250,000 boys and girls under the age of 18 are currently involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide. Some children are abducted or forcibly recruited, while others are driven to join by poverty, abuse, discrimination or revenge. In central Africa, thousands of children have been recruited by rebels and government forces in conflicts across Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic and the DRC.
Demobilizing child soldiers is one thing, but ensuring they don’t return to fighting for economic reasons, is something else. Ishmael visited a workshop, where demobilized and rehabilitated child soldiers learn to become mechanics. Throughout N’Djamena, workshops, tailors and even hotels are taking such boys under their wing, giving them a salary, independence and a better chance at a normal life.
Back at the center, images of war eventually give way to images of hope, Robert is training as a mechanic and instead of guns, he now sketches motorcycles, it’s his way of leaving behind the past and looking to the future.
