HAITI / EDUCATION

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13 January 2011

Months after the earthquake in Haiti, UNICEF catches up with a 14-year-old girl who talks about how continuing her education will lift her family out of poverty and eventually help her become a senator capable of making positive changes in her country. UNICEF

Description

STORY: HAITI / EDUCATION
TRT: 2.36
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE/ NATS

DATELINE: 5 DECEMBER 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI/ FILE

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Shotlist

5 DECEMBER 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

1. Med shot, looking down, girl cutting up chicken feet
2. Close up, hands cutting chicken feet
3. Med shot, girl cutting up chicken feet
4. Wide shot, dirt passage between tents

1 MARCH 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

5. Med shot, two girls walk toward camera

5 DECEMBER 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

6. Med shot, people filling containers at large water tank
7. Close up, water tap

1 MARCH 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

8. Med shot, back of girl as she walks between tents

5 DECEMBER 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

9. Med shot, two teenage girls talking, with small children gathered around them
10. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Shasha Liza, 14-year-old Girl:
"What do I want to change in my life? I want to have the opportunity to continue my education so I can become something in life. I would really like to get my mother out of poverty. I don't have a father. He died last year and I live with my mother so I really want to figure out how to get her out of poverty."
11. Med shot, girl washing laundry in plastic tub
12. Close up, hands washing laundry
13. Close up, face of girl washing laundry
14. Med shot, girl cutting up fish
15. Wide shot, woman in captain's hat preparing food outside
16. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Shasha Liza, 14-year-old Girl:
"If I could talk to the world, I would say there are a lot of mothers in Haiti who are suffering. They are taking care of the kids themselves because the fathers are gone. I would ask for help for the mothers, especially in this camp. There are so many of them raising their children with no help from the fathers."
17. Med shot, girl standing against wooden door of tent
18. Close up, bucket of chicken feet
19. Close up, girl singing in tent
20. Close up, vegetables on tent’ floor
21. Close up, girl's face inside tent
22. Wide shot, tents outside
23. Med shot, tents outside, including one made of UNICEF tarp

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Storyline

When we catch up with 14-year-old Shasha Liza, she is alone in a tent preparing chicken feet to be cooked and later sold by her mother in Port-au-Prince.

Ten months earlier, we had met Shasha in the camp where she's been living since her home was destroyed in last year’s devastating earthquake. At the time, she was sharing a tent with nine family members, and anxious to get back in school.

She's still living in the same tent, which she now shares with six relatives. Her commitment to education is even stronger, as she sees no other way to lift herself and her family out of poverty.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Shasha Liza, 14-year-old Girl:
"What do I want to change in my life? I want to have the opportunity to continue my education so I can become something in life. I would really like to get my mother out of poverty. I don't have a father. He died last year and I live with my mother so I really want to figure out how to get her out of poverty."

The past six months have been particularly difficult, Shasha says, because the rainy season flooded the tent and left her with an infection that hospitalized her for three months as she battled a persistent cough.

Today, she has several hours of work ahead of her, preparing different foods that her mother will sell for the family's only source of income. She's become painfully aware of how much work is required for single mothers to raise their children.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Shasha Liza, 14-year-old Girl:
"If I could talk to the world, I would say there are a lot of mothers in Haiti who are suffering. They are taking care of the kids themselves because the fathers are gone. I would ask for help for the mothers, especially in this camp. There are so many of them raising their children with no help from the fathers."

Shasha dreams of becoming a senator, and changing Haiti's government from the inside. During long days preparing food, she tells us she also dreams of singing and dancing, and maybe becoming a movie star. After a little encouragement, she sings us a song.

With the performance over, Shasha says goodbye. She still has food to prepare, and her homework must be finished before night falls on the camp.

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