3 Aug 2010

MOROCCO / CIRCUS SCHOOL

In Morocco, a new school teaches circus arts. The training helps former street children rebuild confidence in themselves and in society. WORLD BANK

Posted at: August 3, 2010 1:44 pm

Duration: 02:56

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: MOROCCO / CIRCUS SCHOOL 
TRT: 2.56 
SOURCE: WORLD BANK 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: AUGUST 3, 2010 WASHINGTON D.C.

SHOTLIST:

JUNE 2010, SALE, MOROCCO

1. Zoom out, Hajar on swing 
2. Close up, Hajar 
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hajar Biyad, Student: 
"God willing I will be an artist and work in a circus." 
4. Wide shot, children practicing summersaults 
5. Close up, boy lifting other boy 
6. Wide shot, classroom 
7. Close up, classroom kids faces 
8. Wide shot, summersaults 
9. Close up, prop designer 
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Touraya Bouabid, AMESIP: 
"The circus is a unique initiative in the Maghreb, it provides an education and enables vulnerable children to regain confidence in themselves and others." 
11. Wide kids playing basketball 
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Laisha Landu, Social Worker: 
"The reintegration comes through speaking with the family, so we explain that now the child is getting an education and will have a future." 
13. Wide shot, Zak juggling 
14. Med shot, boys doing summersaults 
15. Close up, Zak 
16. Cutaway, boys 
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zakeria al Hanouchi, Student: 
"If I hadn't had the chance to study here, I really don't know what would have happened to me." 
18. Various shots, school exteriors 
19. Various shots, child watching computer screen 
20. Close up, computer screen 
21. SOUNDBITE (French) Achad al Moumi, Sec. Gen. of Ecole du Cirque: 
"Since the creation of the school, more than a thousand students have studied here, and gone on to be integrated in society and making careers." 
22. Wide shot, summersaults 
23. Wide shot, Hajar on swing 
24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hajar Biyad, Student: 
"What I learned here most was how to relate to people, and politeness, I am no longer like I was before." 
25. Wide shot, Hajar and others doing summersaults

STORYLINE:

Hajar Biyad was 11 when social workers found her on the streets of Rabat and Sale.  She'd run away from home, and was selling Kleenex to survive. 
She's now learned to read and write, and aspires to being a professional acrobat in Morocco, or even abroad.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hajar Biyad, Student: 
"God willing I will be an artist and work in a circus."

Morocco's L'Ecole du Cirque, or Circus school, is reaching out to the country's children in difficulty.

Here, former street children -and others abandoned or neglected – can find a new home and education.

The circus school follows a regular state curriculum including reading, writing and math.

But children here who chose to do so, also study acrobatics, and set and prop design for theater and circus.

SOUNDBITE (French) Touraya Bouabid, Association marocaine d'aide aux enfants en situation précaire (AMESIP): 
"The circus is a unique initiative in the Maghreb, it provides an education and enables vulnerable children to regain confidence in themselves and others."

One of the school's main goals is to reintegrate the children back into society and – if possible-their families.

SOUNDBITE (French) Laisha Landu, Social Worker: 
"The reintegration comes through speaking with the family, so we explain that now the child is getting an education and will have a future."

Eighteen-year-old Zakaria says he came to the circus school after his old school kicked him out for what he describes as, "problems."

He says that since joining the circus school, he's studying math and computers, but his passion, is juggling.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zakeria al Hanouchi, Student: 
"If I hadn't had the chance to study here, I really don't know what would have happened to me."

The school is housed within the walls of an ancient fortress, in the coastal city of Sale.

It is supported by the Government of Morocco's National Initiative for Human Development, a World Bank-supported program which engages communities directly in the development choices that affect them.

SOUNDBITE (French) Achad al Moumi, Secretary General, Ecole du Cirque: 
"Since the creation of the school, more than a thousand students have studied here, and gone on to be integrated in society and making careers."

Zakaria says that since joining the school, he's made friends he now considers brothers, and he's returned to live with his mother.

And Hajar says she has returned to her family too, with a new, more hopeful outlook on life:

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hajar Biyad, Student 
"What I learned here most was how to relate to people, and politeness, I am no longer like I was before."

She says she and her colleagues are building the confidence they need to be successful-and fulfilled- parts of society.