10 Mar 2012

SOUTH SUDAN / WOMEN CRAFT (IWD)

South Sudanese women use their art and craft to preserve their culture, while making a living for themselves. The Roots Project was stated in 2009 with the aim of bringing together women from across South Sudan to do arts and craft as a way of preserving and promoting their culture while making a living and providing for their families. UNMISS

Posted at: March 10, 2012 12:02 am

Duration: 05:06

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / WOMEN CRAFT (IWD)
TRT: 5:06
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / DINKA / NATS

DATELINE: 7 MARCH 2012, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, Mary Padar entering the Roots center
2. Close up, sign reading "The Roots Project"
3. Wide shot, women working at the center
4. Close up, woman's face as she works
5. Med shot, women doing beadwork 
6. Close up, woman making necklace
7. Wide shot, Mary Padar and other women working
8. Close up, Mary Padar
9. Close up, Mary Padar making a beaded corset 
10. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project: 
"We were taught by our grandparents to make these items from beads, and it's always used by women for beauty. We wear it so that people will see us. The corset was worn by the ladies from the rich families because it was expensive and those who made them were few people.  If you work with beads, you will always get something in return."
11. Med shot, women at the center beading
12. Med, shot, women working
13. Close up, beaded arm band being worked on
14. Close up, beads on the floor
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Anyieth D'Awol, Founder of the Roots Project:
"I started the Roots Project because we in South Sudan have a lot to offer in terms of arts and crafts, but because of the war all of these things were not producing as much as before and it was very hard to come across traditionally made arts and crafts."
16. Med shot, Anyieth and Mary at the Roots shop
17. Med shot, mirror reflection of Mary at the shop 
18. Wide shot, Anyieth looking at some of the items in the shop
19. Close up, Anyieth wearing a beaded arm band
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Anyieth D'Awol, Founder of the Roots Project:
"Women are not empowered, they don't have the ability to make their own money, they don't have the ability to basically control what happens around them in terms of their household, their environment, also their children. They are primary care-givers at home, so they needed that support, basically to be given the opportunity to become more self-reliant."
21. Tilt up, Mary Padar working on a corset
22. Close up, Mary's face
23. Med shot, Mary checking the beadwork on the corset
24. Close up, the corset
25. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project:
"What I will take to America is the work that I and the other women have done, what I do in South Sudan is what I will show to them, so that they know we are making a living by it, and if they like our work and buy the art from South Sudan. It does not matter where they are from whether from Kenya, Uganda, Zaire or the Arabs, if they like beads and buy them."  
26. Med shot, beaded work on display
27. Zoom in, beads on the corset
28. Med shot, beads necklace on display
29. Close up, beads
30. SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project: 
"Our suffering as women is far from over, the only hope we have  now is that  we have our own country, and people like  Mary Padar who will go  and  talk about the concerns of women. Many have lost their husbands; their children do not go to schools because they cannot afford the school fees. We need the government of south Sudan to look into these issues first, before other countries can help us with it."
31. Various shos, fashion show, women modeling with the necklaces and corsets from the Roots Project

STORYLINE:

It's mid-morning and Mary Padar is on her way to work. She arrives at Roots Project Centre in the Nimra Talata area of Juba, the capital of south Sudan, where she will spend most of her day with other South Sudanese women doing an age old tradition- beading.

The Roots Project was stated in 2009 with the aim of bringing together women from across South Sudan to do arts and craft as a way of preserving and promoting their culture while making a living and providing for their families.

Mary Padar joined the Roots project after she was demobilized from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2010.  For 25 years she was with the army at the frontlines, where she cooked and encouraged fighters not to give up their fight for independence.

With relative peace after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and the then southern rebels, and a Referendum that guaranteed South Sudan its independence, Mary gave up her army days to be closer to her children and grandchildren.  She also gave up camouflage for corset.

Mary chose to join the Roots Project because as a young girl she had learnt how to make beaded corsets from her Dinka community and for her it was something she could easily pick up although she had not done it for years.

SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project: 
"We were taught by our grandparents to make these items from beads, and it's always used by women for beauty. We wear it so that people will see us. The corset was worn by the ladies from the rich families because it was expensive and those who made them were few people. If you work with beads, you will always get something in return."

In just two years the center has become the melting pot for South Sudanese culture, with about 60 women from across the new nation's cultural divide, making traditional necklaces, belts, head pieces, ear rings and corsets that portray a culture that was on the brink of extinction due to decades of civil war.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anyieth D'Awol, Founder of the Roots Project:
"I started the Roots Project because we in South Sudan have a lot to offer in terms of arts and crafts, but because of the war all of these things were not producing as much as before and it was very hard to come across traditionally made arts and crafts."

The women at the center come from different backgrounds with 17 tribes currently represented in the project, but one common factor among them was that prior to the ROOTs, they had little or no means of making money. Some of them were from abusive relationships that saw them heavily reliant on others in order for them and their children to survive.

Even after its independence, South Sudanese women are faced with lots of challenges.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anyieth D'Awol, Founder of the Roots Project:
"Women are not empowered, they don't have the ability to make their own money, they don't have the ability to basically control what happens around them in terms of their household, their environment, also their children. They are primary care-givers at home, so they needed that support, basically to be given the opportunity to become more self-reliant."

Although Mary's beaded corsets are guaranteed to draw a crowd when displayed, she never thought the work of her hands will one day pay off and give her the opportunity to go places. The Roots Project has been invited to showcase Mary's work alongside other artwork from the center, at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market in New Mexico, USA.

UNESCO's acclaimed festival is the largest of its kind in the world and aims at preserving folk art traditions. Mary is one of the 130 artists selected from 400 applicants worldwide and will be representing South Sudan as a cultural Ambassador in July this year.

SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project:
"What I will take to America is the work that I and the other women have done, what I do in South Sudan is what I will show to them, so that they know we are making a living by it, and if they like our work and buy the art from South Sudan. It does not matter where they are from whether from Kenya, Uganda, Zaire or the Arabs, if they like beads and buy them."

The ROOTs Project hopes to preserve South Sudanese culture through the art and crafts that the women make, but it also hopes that the women's lives will change and that they can in return influences others in their communities to work and better themselves.

SOUNDBITE (Dinka) Mary Padar, member of the Roots Project: 
Our suffering as women is far from over, the only hope we have  now is that  we have our own country, and people like  Mary Padar who will go  and  talk about the concerns of women. Many have lost their husbands; their children do not go to schools because they cannot afford the school fees. We need the government of south Sudan to look into these issues first, before other countries can help us with it.

The center also provides literacy and numeracy classes for its members, as well as meals for the women and their children that come to the center.

With just a little encouragement the hard work of the women at the Roots is beginning to pay off, but a lot more is needed to bring South Sudanese culture, arts and crafts to a place where it can compete with its neighbors in the region and the world.