8 Oct 2012

JORDAN / LAKE – SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN

During their joint visit to the Za'atari refugee camp in northern Jordan, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake, saw how learning is making a difference for Syrian refugee children. UNICEF

Posted at: October 8, 2012 3:38 pm

Duration: 02:32

Available in: SD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: JORDAN / LAKE - SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN 
TRT: 2: 32
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: English
 
DATELINE: 7 OCTOBER 2012, ZA'ATARI REFUGEE CAMP, JORDAN
 
SHOTLIST:

1. Close up, two girls 
2. Wide shot, tent classroom
3. Med shot, Jose Manuel Barroso and Anthony Lake seated in a classroom
4. Close shot, girl seated
5. Med shot, Barroso talking to children
6. Med shot, Lake talking to children
7. Wide shot, exterior of school tents
8. SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission: 
"The good news is these people here, these young boys and young girls are happy because they have a helping hand, they were able to come back to school. But they are living in extremely challenging circumstances." 
9. Wide shot, school tent with children seated singing at entrance
10. Close shot, girl in green singing
11. Med shot, children seated singing at entrance of tent
12. Close shot, UNICEF school exercise books
13. Med shot, overhead shot, looking down at children and teacher
14. Close shot, girl singing
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF:
"You can see in their faces how happy they are to have an opportunity to not only to learn, but to come together with other students in a place of safety, where they can begin to recover from such terrible experiences." 
16. Wide shot, tent classrooms
17. Med shot, tent interior with children
18. Wide shot, concrete trucks
19. Med shot, concrete truck preparation
20. Wide shot, worker smoothing down new concrete
21. Close shot, vaccine bottle
22. Med shot, girl being injected with vaccine
23. Close shot, boy singing with face paint
24. Med shot, puppeteer
25. Close shot, child with child friendly space worker
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF:
"Seeing in the child friendly spaces, kids swinging, kids running around with make up on their faces pretending to be clowns. All of those things are wonderful to see anytime to see a child do that, but it's such a sign that they are recovering from the terrible traumas that a number of them told me about as they escaped to come into the camp."
27. Med shot, children in foreground as Anthony Lake passes
28. Med shot, various shots, children playing in playground

STORYLINE:
 
Getting Syrian refugee children back to school.

It's a shared ambition of the European Union and UNICEF.

During their joint visit to the Za'atari refugee camp in northern Jordan, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and UNICEF's Executive Director, Anthony Lake, saw how learning is making a difference for these children.

The European Union has donated four-point-six million Euros to increase UNICEF's education programs for Syrian refugee children.

SOUNDBITE (English) José Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission:
"The good news is that these people here, these young boys and young girls are happy because they have a helping hand, they were able to come back to school. But they are living in extremely challenging circumstances."

The new donation brings the EU's total contribution for education for Syrian refugees to 10 million Euros this year.  It will help Syrian refugee children living inside a refugee camp or outside, as well as Jordanian children in the communities hosting them.

The funding covers teacher salaries, text books and school equipment, but what it's really doing is helping these children heal.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF:
"You can see how happy they are to have an opportunity not only to learn, but to come together with other students in a place of safety, where they can begin to recover from such terrible experiences."

Opened just last week, the school in the Za'atari camp is already accommodating more than 2000 children. With more Syrians crossing the border into Jordan daily, the race is on to expand the school's capacity to 5000 pupils.

Along with education, UNICEF and its partners are keeping children healthy with access to clean water and vaccinations.

New child-friendly spaces in the camp are offering children a fun place to play, socialize and to get support to cope with distress caused by their experiences in Syria.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF:
"Seeing in the child-friendly spaces, kids swinging, kids running around with make up on their faces pretending to be clowns… All of those things are wonderful to see anytime to see a child do that, but it's such a sign that they are recovering from the terrible traumas that a number of them told me about as they escaped to come into the camp."

As tough as conditions are in this camp, these children are the lucky ones. With no immediate end in sight to the ongoing violence in Syria, many others are certain to join them in the months ahead.

The onus is on the international community to find ways of helping them.