Living with Refugees (Surviving Sudan)
Dates:
Channel Four (UK): 09 Dec 04, 21:00 (Dispatches)
Discovery/Times (US): Jan 05
Buy 'Living with Refugees' (DVD)
Award-winning journalist Sorious Samura is increasingly gaining a
reputation for a new kind of journalism which not many others can do.
It's 'real' reality TV – stories that offer a unique perspective into
the lives of people facing terrible situations. On this journey he set
out to become, for all intents and purposes, a refugee. He traveled to
Chad to live with a family in a refugee camp for one month. He lived
under exactly the same conditions, eating what they ate, drinking what
they drank. Sorious built close intimate relationships with the people
in this situation sharing their hopes and fears. This film provides a
unique insight into what life is really like for a refugee.
Adam has 2 wives, 8 children, no money and all his friends have been
murdered. Sorious meets Adam at the Chad/Sudan border where he has
been living on handouts - but he's outstayed his welcome. Even though
he doesn't know how far it is, he's heading for a UN refugee camp
further to the west in Chad. He agrees Sorious can follow his family
on this journey. "You have come all this way to tell our story, you
are our brother."
Never before has someone filmed an exodus of people in this way. As
the journey progresses more refugees join the group – there's safety
in numbers. Sorious is exhausted and cannot keep up. He follows their
methods of survival, digging dry riverbeds for water and eating only
once. Sorious speaks to Adam about what happened in Darfur, he breaks
down "Please don't make me remember what happened, it's just too
much."
After an epic 3 day journey the family finally reaches the camp,
however it isn't what they were expecting. With no food or shelter
they are forced to fend for themselves. Staggeringly, even amongst
this group of desperate people, Sorious learns there are the "haves"
and "have nots". The only aid and assistance they receive comes from
other refugees.
We follow the family as they try to make some sort of home for
themselves. Fatima, Adam and their six kids sleep under a small piece
of tarpaulin. Fatima, Adams's wife, is a strong, elegant, tough woman
who is holding the family together. For Adam, although tough and
resolute, the situation is almost too much to bear: "There's no
respect for us in our own country and here they treat us like
animals." For Sorious, the time he is spending in the camp is starting
to have an effect: "Refugee – I hate the word. I hate the word now
more than ever because it robs a man of his identity his status his
respect – everything."
As we see with Adam and his family the bureaucracy of the aid business
sometimes leaves those most vulnerable behind. The UNHCR tell Sorious
that "The situation here is a mess." As the film draws to a close
Sorious points out that, yet again, situations like this are a damming
indictment on all of us. "Too often, too little is done too late."
Through Sorious video diaries and the filming of the crew who shadowed
him throughout his experiences with Adam and his family we see the
life of a refugee as it's never been seen before. It's a first, an
exclusive and a must-see film for anyone wishing to truly understand
what it is like to be a refugee. Undoubtedly this is one of the most
important documentaries of the year.
Dispatches: Living with Refugees
Directors: Claudio von Planta and Simon Atkins
Camera: Claudio von Planta
Producer: George Waldrum
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