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STORY: JORDAN / RAMADAN
TRT: 2.43
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 JULY 2013, ZA’ATARI CAMP, JORDAN
1. Med shot, minaret
2. Wide shot, crowd walking in market
3. Med shot, stall
4. Med shot, stall making Ramadan pancakes
5. Close up, pancakes
6. Med shot, tent-mosque
7. Med shot, man doing call to prayer
8. Close up, man doing call to prayer
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed, Imam:
"I was an imam in Syria. I studied towards it at university. But after our area got shelled I fled the country with others. When I came to the Za’atari I found the sheikh who was my boss back home. He decided to hire me and I became an imam here.”
10. Wide shot, of Islamic school
11. Close up, sign
12. Med shot, kids in class
13. Close up, teacher
14. Close up, student
15. Med shot, student holding book
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sheikh Ahmed:
“At this school we offer free classes in memorizing the Qur’an for Syrian refugees, both men and women. Firstly for kids aged 5-12 and students from the age of 17 up to 50 graduate to become religious leaders. The goal is to prepare them to continue their message when they go back to Syria.”
17. Wide shot, Hytham reading Qur’an
18. Med shot, Hytham reading the Qu’ran
19. Close up, Qur’an
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Syrian Refugee:
"In Syria the shelling would begin exactly when Iftar was supposed to start every day. This was how we knew it was time to break fast. Of course we used to leave the food and flee to our neighbour’s house with our children because they had a second floor that was safe from shelling. Then they started using rockets and we had to take refugee at schools but then they started targeting those too. Ramadan here is difficult we don’t have much food or meat, but at least we have some peace.”
21. Wide shot, sunset
22. Med shot, woman making food
23. Close up, woman making food
24. Med shot, family eating
25. Med shot, Hytham eating
26. Close up, people eating
27. Med shot, prefab rooftop
28. Close up, moon
Ramadan at Za’atari refugee camp.
The climate is harsh and temperatures reach up to 40 degrees.
For most refugees it’s their first Ramadan in exile separated from everyone and everything they know.
Even simple pleasures like food are just not the same
And it’s hard to forget that the conflict rages on just a few kilometres away
But for some luck finds a way back into their lives.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed, Imam:
"I was an imam in Syria. I studied towards it at university. But after our area got shelled I fled the country with others. When I came to the Za’atari I found the sheikh who was my boss back home. He decided to hire me and I became an imam here.”
Mohamed is part of the Abdullah Bin Mubarak project
The joint Jordanian-Qatari initiative was created to offer religion courses to Syrian refugees
Students of all ages and education levels are welcome here
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sheikh Ahmed:
“At this school we offer free classes in memorizing the Qur’an for Syrian refugees, both men and women. Firstly for kids aged 5-12 and students from the age of 17 up to 50 graduate to become religious leaders. The goal is to prepare them to continue their message when they go back to Syria.”
Hytham is a pious man who came here with his family.
At Za’atari he reads the Qu’ran in public, which he never felt comfortable doing back home
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hytham Syrian Refugee:
"In Syria the shelling would begin exactly when Iftar was supposed to start every day. This was how we knew it was time to break fast. Of course we used to leave the food and flee to our neighbour’s house with our children because they had a second floor that was safe from shelling…Then they started using rockets and we had to take refugee at schools but then they started targeting those too.. Ramadan here is difficult we don’t have much food or meat, but at least we have some peace.”
For refugees who have been through so much hardship, peace during Ramadan counts for a lot.
But Ramadan is also a time for reflection a time to ponder the future…and for these refugees a time to pray for a return home.
