00:00:10:24 first frame of documentary picture - Boy: Wake up, wake up! He’s dead, go and call everyone.
Girl: Everyone, come in the house!
00:00:24:00 starts as VO over the playing funerals sequence - Sihle: We play like it’s for real. We play funerals. We cry then we go and bury them. We put them in a hole. We say our goodbyes and sing: “All the precious things of this world will be left in the graves”
It happens sometimes people start crying for real. We laugh at them and they end up laughing too. They say “Well guys this is sad because it reminds me of some people who have died” maybe a parent.
00:01:32:09 Intertitle: This is the story of some of the children who live in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
where so many children have lost their parents that they now play “Funerals” instead of “House” .
00:01:47:22 Driving and city shots
00:02:09:08 over city shots
Child 1 VO: A taxi came to fetch us. We thought it would only be us there but there were other children.
00:02:21:17 over kids arriving footage
Child 2 VO: I was extremely excited. For one thing, I was really looking forward to meeting all the other children.
00:02:31:03 still over kids arriving footage
Child 3 VO: We were not the same. Some lived in rural areas and others lived in far away places.
00:02:44:14 over kids coming down the stairs
Child 4 VO: The first day before we came I was scared because I didn’t know who else was gonna be there.
00:02:51:21 over kids coming down the stairs
Child 5 VO: This was the first time that I ever met children who hadn’t had parents.
00:02:56:24 kids enter room
Child 6 VO: We didn’t know if it would work because we didn’t know each other.
00:03:07:02 kids learning song
Child 7 VO: we came together to sing a song about a home - something that brings everyone together.
00:03:16:14 kids learning song
Child 8 VO: We kept singing and singing until it came together bit by bit.
00:03:26:00 kids learning song
Child 9 VO: One we heard the rhythm we all knew it would be lots of fun.
00:03:33:09 Kids singing Home…
00:03:42:22 Split edit
CU Sihle: I like singing because it also exercises me. It makes me feel good, to have a beat in myself.
00:03:51:17 Singing
Home …
At Mli and S’fundo’s homestead
00:04:16:15
Mli: We live alone, just the two of us. Myself and S’fundo, the little one. In the morning the first thing I do is light the fire and sweep, then we eat. Sometimes we peal and soak the potatoes so they are ready to cook when we come back from school. So everything is ready by the time we leave for school. We share chores because my brother can also cook, wash dishes and sweep.
In the bedroom
00:05:05:16
Mli: We look at these pictures when we miss Mom. It’s painful… it’s painful not to have parents. You must listen to your parents when they are bringing you up because if we didn’t listen to our parents maybe we wouldn’t be able to cook or to do anything for ourselves.
Shots of Mli doing evening chores and dishing up rice
00:05:54:05
Mli continues: Mom used to say it playfully that one day we would suffer when she is no longer around. She said we must learn how to cook and sweep. It was as if she knew.
After mom died people would try to scare us by knocking on the door but after a while it stopped. What made us stick it out was we were not ready to leave Mom where she was buried.
Park
00:06:55:08 in and amongst the montage
Abbey: Thank you very much.
00:07:18:13 split edit
Sihle: When I see someone walking in the street and I can see that he has a painful heart, my heart hurts for him
00:07:35:10 Agape Children’s home
00:07:46:15 Voice over
Sihle: I stay at Agape, a place where orphans stay.
Kids singing
00:08:08:00 Split edit
Sihle: My father started peeling all over. He couldn’t even walk, he was so sick. He was taken to hospital. They fixed him and then he came back. He just slept. I was sitting with him in the house. We sat and sat then I saw that he had fallen asleep. When I tried to wake him he wouldn’t wake up. Then I went to call granny, then they all came. The next day was Sunday and he was buried.
People say orphaned children are rude. They shouldn’t say that because it’s only that these children are poor. They don’t have a mother or a father.
00:09:10:21 Park
00:09:43:09 Chivaughn’s house
Chivaughn VO: I went to some of the other children’s houses and they also came to our house and had a swim and had a bite to eat and some juice. It was fun.
00:10:03:02 Chivaughn Split edit - I’m rather emotional, I cry at silly things like movies and that kind of thing. I live in Queensborough with my Gran. We moved there because my dad’s business went under so we weren’t doing very well. We moved out to my Gran’s place so we could save more money. Sometimes when my friends had lots of things and I didn’t have any, it was kinda sad, like I didn’t get everything that I wanted but it wasn’t too bad. Now my brother and I share a room but we are very close. I feel lucky that I have such a wonderful mom. We have so much love in our family we always supported everyone. I feel so much happier that I have what I have now. As long as there is love and a supporting family and somebody to stay with.
00:11:09:12 Walking home montage
00:11:55:20 Lucky’s house
00:11:59:23 split edit
Lucky: Nokwanda is my mother’s sister’s child. Mom asked her mother to look after us. Mom wrote her a letter when she was sick and told her she knew that she was dying and if she could please look after us. First the baby got sick and died. He was small. He was still breastfeeding. He was sleeping in the morning, he had been fine. We tried to wake him and he wouldn’t wake up, so we called the doctor and he said the baby was dead. After that Mom followed.
I used to do things for her. When I came back from playing I would give her medicine and she would take it. She was thin, not like the Mom I knew. She was sick, she had AIDS.
00:13:23:16 Lucky continues: So now I live with my auntie who I call Mom. My father doesn’t come to see us. He doesn’t give us money. When we try to call him, he hangs up the phone.
00:13:41:14 Outside – corridors playing
00:13:45:11 Child 1 VO: We just had lots and lots of fun and we knew we were going to have fun till the end.
00:13:52:23 Child 2 VO: We just played around like normal friends who had known each other for a long time.
00:14:03:07 Mli: We are going to sing.
Quick shot of kids playing around
00:14:08:05 Mli sings: Children like to help others
00:14:16:03 Lucky sings: Home… Home…
Quick shot of kids playing around
00:14:21:23 Lucky: That’s the part of the song I like.
00:14:24:18 Luke sings: A Child is a child because of other children. A child is a child because of people.
00:14:34:04 S’fundo sings: Playing together and singing together
00:14:40:13 Chloe performing for the camera: Hello, how are you? I’m news reporter, reporting from Durban live. I’m reporting on the new song for children who are helping children and we are going to sing the song in the studio live and we are going to record a CD
Samantha sticks her head in: and a video!
00:14:59:23 split edit
Chloe: Home was, like, very nice because dad was there and mom was there. I think about the times when we used to bake, I remember there was this one time we invited our friends to a party and we baked this big chocolate cake. I love my chocolate cakes, anyway we used to bake and make a whole mess up in the kitchen and make banana milkshakes and stuff like that.
00:15:23:13 Well, mom was alcoholic so she had to go to hospital and dad paid for that because he was a journalist. So when mom went, dad died and then I had to live my foster parent and then that didn’t work out so I went to live at a children’s home.
00:15:41:00 Shots at the children’s home
00:15:51:14 Chloe continues: Sometimes I get frustrated when I see people, you know when there is a function and moms and dads have to come. It’s like oh gosh, now I don’t have anyone!
Sometimes I get really frustrated in those situations. Sometimes I cry…yeah, I cry.
Kids singing a prayer at the home
00:16:24:18 Chloe continues - It doesn’t make me different from anybody else. It’s just a fact that I’m orphan. I feel more fortunate than some op the people I’ve seen. I get food, some of them don’t, like the people on the streets, I’ve seen them, you know? You can still call it a home because maybe if we don’t get much love from the adults we can share love as sisters and brothers over there.
00:16:55:23 Fun fair
00:18:02:00 Siphelele’s home
00:18:06:04 Split Edit
Siphelele: My mother’s name is Elizabeth Ndlovu and this is my mother.
When I found out what moms status was I just felt worried because I didn’t know anything about HIV and I was just worried that my mom can die anytime.
I just don’t feel happy. Because my mother is HIV positive, I don’t feel happy because there’s nothing to feel happy about.
If I don’t know what the problem is or what she is sick from I just worry that it’s the disease tackling her.
00:18:55:05 Mom lying in a hospital bed and Siphelele comes to visit
Mom: Thank you
Siphelele VO: You just have to pray
Mom: You are my Valentine. Who is yours? (in Zulu but not subtitled – not important to the story)
Siphelele VO: and look after mom.
00:19:04:00 (on the couch)
Siphelele: Sometimes it makes me feel bad sometimes it makes me feel nice because when my mom tells them her status they will know more about it and sometimes I feel bad when they embarrass me and they say funny things.
There’s this feeling in my heart that these people can embarrass me in front of the whole school and tell everyone that my mom is HIV positive and she’s got AIDS
00:19:39:14 Arriving at the Studio
00:19:58:06
Bits of singing in the studio: - Playing together makes us so happy…
- All children need to be cared for…
- Home…
- Other people…
- Playing together…
- What is a home when children are alone?
- Children like to…
00:20:42:13 - 2 kids & teacher by the mic
Kid sings: What is a home?
Teacher: Don’t come in so quickly my child,
Kids makes a few mistakes then…
Kid sings: what is a home to children…
Kids makes a few more mistakes then…
Kid sings: What is a home when there are no parents?
Kid 2 sings: What is a home when the family is sick?
Kid 2: Cameraman please can we have some privacy.
00:21:22:19 The Rural Valley. Kids walking in the Valley
00:21:50:21 Kid VO: We had to walk quiet a far way down all these hills to get to his house.
I’ve never been to an area like that but walking down the hills, it was so… I really liked it. It seemed so nice. All the hills with grass and the trees and all of that.
00:22:27:21 Kids walk up to the hill
Kid VO: How many years have you been living alone?
Sihle translates: How many years have you been living alone?
00:22:42:23 Mli: We have lived alone for 2 years.
00:22:48:19 Sihle translates: They’ve stayed for two years alone without their mother and father.
00:22:52:10 Sally-Anne: What school does he go to and second of all how long does it take him to get to his school?
00:22:57:19 Mli: I go to Nonkwenkwana School and it takes me two hours to walk there.
00:23:03:16 Chloe’s voice: Is the community quite friendly here?
00:23:07:00 Mli: The community is split in half. Some are friendly to us and some are not.
00:23:13:03 Luke: How did your mother pass away?
00:23:15:03 Mli: My mom was sick. She went to hospital and traditional healers but she died.
00:23:23:07 Sihle translates: His mother was very sick. She even went to doctors and traditional doctors but then she got very sick and passed away.
00:23:34:02 split edit Mli: and you Sihle? Since your mother passed away who do you live with and where?
00:23:43:14 Sihle: Oh – about myself? Now that my mom has passed away I stay with my father.
00:23:50:20 Mli: And who does Lucky live with?
Lucky: With my auntie
00:23:56:14 Abbey: Have you ever like dreamt of something and now because your mother has passed away you think that dream won’t come true?
00:24:06:15 Mli: There is nothing I dream of that I think can never happen.
Mli continues: Who does Chloe live with now that she doesn’t have parents?
00:24:19:10 Chloe: I stay in an orphanage.
Mli: When Chloe is alone does she ever get sad and think about her mother and the things that they used to do together?
Chloe: Sometimes.
00:24:37:12 split edit Mli: One good thing about living alone is that we will grow up independent. We can do most things for ourselves. The bad thing is sometimes after school we want to go visit with other kids but because we live alone we can’t.
00:25:01:06 Outside Abbey’s house, Abbey in the house
Abbey hugging his mother
00:25:17:06
Abbey: Hello Mommy
Mom: Hey I didn’t hear you come in
(both above lines not subtitled)
00:25:20:21 Abey: What makes me sad is when my mom goes away. She goes sometimes to Germany for 3, 4 months, sometimes for a year.
If we look back at ourselves, the things we are wearing and then we look at those children, you just get that feeling, what if I was like that?
It just makes me feel bad to think what would it be like if my parents were gone. How would I feel?
00:25:58:24 Abey doing ballet
Hobbies as dancing, I dance ballet. They normally tease people because, when they see all those lifts and those jumps and the splits and all that. Then they start getting jealous. And being mean: it’s for ladies unless you’re a gay person. I just felt bad, and just ignored them. It’s just you don’t like it, it’s not nice when a person calls you something that you know is so unusual.
00:26:41:00 In the car
Mli: Chloe is a child who lives in Pietermaritzburg. She has no parents. That's why I want to see what kind of life they live where she stays. Also if they care for her because as a child you need to be cared for.
00:27:12:09 Chloe - split edit: I think he wants to visit me in particular because it was sort of different from where he stays. I’ll basically show him around and introduce him to the staff when he gets here.
00:27:18:00 Mli & Sifundo arrive by kombi
00:27:27:04 as they walk along outside the building
Mli: Who looks after you here?
Chloe: There are aunties who look after us.
Mli: Do you ever visit anywhere?
Chloe: Yes
Mli: Where do you visit?
Chloe: I visit my aunts or my brother. Uncle Roets lives here.
Mli: Who?
Chloe: He’s like our principal. If you want to live here he…
Mli: He makes it happen?
Chloe: Mmmhm…
Mli: How did you get into contact with him?
Chloe: He’s easily contacted. 00:28:07:11
00:28:12:18 Chloe continues: There are children staying here and there.
Mli: Chloe, how do you feel about living here? Do you like living here?
Chloe: Yes, it’s nice because there are lots of children and we all get along well.
00:28:33:14 Chloe continues: There is a small girl who sleeps here. This is my bedroom. I sleep here with a friend but she is out. When it’s lunchtime or breakfast they ring this bell. There is the fridge. We are allowed to put anything in the fridge. It’s very cold.
00:29:07:00 In the dining area - Mli: Is that where you eat?
Chloe: Yes we eat here.
Mli: Is this everybody?
Chloe: There are others but they have gone out for the weekend to visit family and friends.
00:29:30:02 Looking at photographs
Chloe: This is me.
Mli: Where did your mother live? In a rural area?
Chloe: No she lived at home with us…
This is my aunt…
Here is my mom and dad with the cat…
This is Dad graduating after he finished university...
00:30:11:21 Mli: What was your father?
Chloe: A Journalist…
This is Mom, Dad, my cousin and me…
I was small there…
00:30:32:12 On the bench
Mli: Chloe do you get everything you like here?
Chloe: No because there are a lot of us living here as brothers and sisters.
Mli: What kinds of people live here?
Chloe: There are people who are suffering at home so they come and live here.
Mli: How do you feel about your life since you live here?
Chloe: Life is good because I get everything for free.
Mli: You don’t pay any money?
Chloe: No.
Mli: Do you ever get treated badly?
Chloe: No because I can phone people, so if I want to speak to someone I can phone them. But I’m not treated badly
00:31:33:24 Mli & S’fundo leaving
Chloe on the bench intercut with Mli & S’fundo as they compare their situations
00:31:57:20 split edit Chloe on the bench: Well, what I think was different is the environment that we stay in. He stays in a house and there is much less people. He’s dependant on people but also independent in a way like he cleans his own house but us here we have people to clean for us and things in larger quantities here than at his place.
00:32:21:08 Mli by the fire: Chloe said that their food is cooked for them. They just come when it’s time to eat.
00:32:30:11 Chloe on the bench: I would like to be independent because it gives me a feeling of self-assurance.
00:32:38:05 Mli by the fire: I think I would like to live there because all the children there are happy and carefree and nothing hurts them. We would also be carefree.
00:32:50:21 Chloe on the bench: Basically when we stay here we stay here. The only time we go out if when we go to school and for certain outings or church and stuff. I would basically like more freedom - to be more in the outside world because here you stay at home.
00:33:06:15 Mli by the fire: She is happy, nothing hurts her. If there is something that she wants, sometimes she will get it but not always because there are a lot of children there.
It’s not nice to stay alone because there is no warmth.
The gap I see filled in Chloe is even though in her heart she knows that her parents are gone, you can’t tell she has no parents.
00:33:01:14 Singing in the studio
Home is...
Home is where you get comfort.
Home is...
Home is where you can eat.
Home is...
Home is where there is love.
Home is...
If there's love there, you can call it a home.
00:34:05:12 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:34:26:24 VERSE 1
It's good to give and to help one another,
to make life better
better for us all.
All children need someone to care.
Children need support.
All children need comfort.
00:34:46:00 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:35:06:19 VERSE 2
What is a home if there are no parents?
What is a home if the family is sick?
What is a home to children who have nothing?
Where is a home when children are alone?
Home is...
You feel good when you come home.
Home is...
When you are at home everyone is family.
Home is...
A home is not only about having parents -
or not having parents.
Home is...
Home is where there's lots of love.
Home is where you feel special.
00:35:46:23 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:36:09:08 ZULU VERSE:
Children love to be helpful.
Children feel proud when they help each other.
To those who are poor,
Let us be helpful.
Like we are one family, let’s support each other
We all have feelings.
We like to play and be happy.
We know what joy is, but when things go wrong
we get confused and saddened.
We need love and care.
00:36:50:01 Kids at the park
Madoda with the box
00:37:09:14 Abbey: Can I feel how heavy it is?
Madoda (director): No, you can guess.
Sihle off camera: I think it’s the CD’s.
Abbey: No it’s not! It must be t-shirts or something…Chocolates! Chocolates with our names on it!!!
Madoda: All the chocolates… ah, I told you! All the things that are inside here are enough for all of us so you don’t have to break each others legs.
00:37:38:02 Kids dig into the box
00:37:53:11 Chloe: Oh my! I’m on a CD!!
Chivaughn showing us the CD: There’s me.
Chloe: I want to here how we sound. I want to listen to all the remixes!
They put the music on
Chloe as she listens to song: Ah that’s so cute.
00:38:27:00 Bus driving
00:38:48:23 Teaching each other Zulu (This part we did not translated to build up curiosity amongst the audience who doesn’t speak the language. It explains itself soon enough)
00:39:17:23 Arriving at S’fundo’s school
00:39:32:23 Mli to the school: I’ll tell you about these children. We were all together in Durban and we learned a song together with S’fundo. S’fundo, come and join us.
00:39:42:20 S’fundo joins them
Mli continues: They wanted to see S’fundo’s school and they are happy to meet you all. I’ll let them say a few words.
00:39:59:18 Luke in Zulu: Hello everybody.
00:40:06:13 Chivaughn in Zulu: We have a song that we did together with S’fundo.
00:40:12:00 Alex in Zulu: We want to sing this song for you.
00:40:19:05 Sally – Anne in Zulu: Now we are going to teach you this song.
00:40:23:19 School sings along
Let’s play together…
Lets sing together…
00:40:48:00 Bus driving
00:41:03:05 Teacher: Here at our school Bhensela, we also have orphans. Some only have fathers others have only mothers and some children have no father or mother
00:41:13:00 Singing
00:41:22:07 Chivaughn addresses school - split edit
Chivaughn: I enjoyed everything about this project especially recording a song in the studio and making great friends like these.
00:41:29:13 Lucky: My name is Lucky, Hello.
We have come here to be happy and to teach you the song.
00:41:51:00 Abbey: Um… Hello everyone my name is Abbey and I will translate what he says.
Ok, he says that he’s very happy to be here. He wants to teach you guys the song that we are here to do.
Lucky: Thank you. We will now teach you.
00:42:14:17 School singing
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
00:42:35:22 Kid VO/split edit: Hearing this song makes me feel good. My father has passed away but I don’t feel like crying because this song is comforting.
00:43:12:17 Mli split edit: The song changed me. It was the part where it says “A Child is a child even when there are no parents”. When mom died, S’fundo and I were left alone and the two of us stayed together. So the song changed me in such a way that I can be free as a child.
00:43:35:15 Nokwanda: My favourite part of the song is this: What is a home if there are no parents. What is a home to the children who are alone
00:43:58:06 Lucky: I’m still happy about it. Sometimes my friends and I sit together and sing the song.
00:44:09:03 Mli: Children like this cassette. When I run into them they all sing “We all have feelings” because they know I sing that part.
00:44:22:04 Chivaughn: I hadn’t really experienced different homes where there weren’t parents or anything else like that. So now I know what it’s like I can appreciate thing more than what I did.
00:44:35:14 Luke: I get so much more than them but we are all the same, so why should I get more than them?
00:44:41:12 Alex: It’s really amazing to see everyone one from different backgrounds, seeing how they live. Like when we went up to Mli’s house, I couldn’t believe that he lives by himself and provides for him and his brother. They don’t have any parents to look after them. I was more amazed than sorry that they can survive like that. It teaches me how much I take things for granted.
00:45:11:22 Chloe: If I was a street child ok, and I had someone who really loved me and we lived in a corner of …I don’t know where and we loved each other and respected each other and shared whatever we had, we’d be really like a family unit. I would be able to call that place home.
00:45:30:22 Nokwanda: It makes me feel that I should be helpful to children who don’t have parents.
00:45:38:23 Sihle: I wouldn’t be able to live like Mli & S’fundo because I’m too scared of being alone.
00:45:51:00 Mli & S’fundo’s homestead
Mli & S’fundo’s kneeling and speaking to their ancestor, their mother
00:46:02:06 Mli: Mama, we are speaking to you. We are leaving to go o granny’s like you said we should. Let our journey be successful and protect us from accidents. We are now leaving. Us – your children.
00:46:23:01 Mli & S’fundo walking and getting into a minibus
Mli: We left our family home because we stayed alone and slept alone. When it was just S’fundo and me at home, he got a sore on his foot. He couldn’t go to school.
00:46:55:16 Mli (and S’fundo) in the minibus: We then went to Granny’s and soon the sore started healing. The medication started to work, yet before, when we were back home it didn’t help. When Mom was alive, she said that we must leave, so maybe it was her way of telling us it was time to go.
00:47:27:24 Mli & S’fundo with granny and all the other kids.
00:48:06:00 CD playing montage
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
What is a home if there are no parents?
What is a home if the family is sick?
What is a home to children who have nothing?
Where is a home when children are alone?
00:49:15:18 Credits
Home is...
You feel good when you come home.
Home is...
When you are at home everyone is family.
Home is where there's lots of love.
End credits 00:51:36:06
Girl: Everyone, come in the house!
00:00:24:00 starts as VO over the playing funerals sequence - Sihle: We play like it’s for real. We play funerals. We cry then we go and bury them. We put them in a hole. We say our goodbyes and sing: “All the precious things of this world will be left in the graves”
It happens sometimes people start crying for real. We laugh at them and they end up laughing too. They say “Well guys this is sad because it reminds me of some people who have died” maybe a parent.
00:01:32:09 Intertitle: This is the story of some of the children who live in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
where so many children have lost their parents that they now play “Funerals” instead of “House” .
00:01:47:22 Driving and city shots
00:02:09:08 over city shots
Child 1 VO: A taxi came to fetch us. We thought it would only be us there but there were other children.
00:02:21:17 over kids arriving footage
Child 2 VO: I was extremely excited. For one thing, I was really looking forward to meeting all the other children.
00:02:31:03 still over kids arriving footage
Child 3 VO: We were not the same. Some lived in rural areas and others lived in far away places.
00:02:44:14 over kids coming down the stairs
Child 4 VO: The first day before we came I was scared because I didn’t know who else was gonna be there.
00:02:51:21 over kids coming down the stairs
Child 5 VO: This was the first time that I ever met children who hadn’t had parents.
00:02:56:24 kids enter room
Child 6 VO: We didn’t know if it would work because we didn’t know each other.
00:03:07:02 kids learning song
Child 7 VO: we came together to sing a song about a home - something that brings everyone together.
00:03:16:14 kids learning song
Child 8 VO: We kept singing and singing until it came together bit by bit.
00:03:26:00 kids learning song
Child 9 VO: One we heard the rhythm we all knew it would be lots of fun.
00:03:33:09 Kids singing Home…
00:03:42:22 Split edit
CU Sihle: I like singing because it also exercises me. It makes me feel good, to have a beat in myself.
00:03:51:17 Singing
Home …
At Mli and S’fundo’s homestead
00:04:16:15
Mli: We live alone, just the two of us. Myself and S’fundo, the little one. In the morning the first thing I do is light the fire and sweep, then we eat. Sometimes we peal and soak the potatoes so they are ready to cook when we come back from school. So everything is ready by the time we leave for school. We share chores because my brother can also cook, wash dishes and sweep.
In the bedroom
00:05:05:16
Mli: We look at these pictures when we miss Mom. It’s painful… it’s painful not to have parents. You must listen to your parents when they are bringing you up because if we didn’t listen to our parents maybe we wouldn’t be able to cook or to do anything for ourselves.
Shots of Mli doing evening chores and dishing up rice
00:05:54:05
Mli continues: Mom used to say it playfully that one day we would suffer when she is no longer around. She said we must learn how to cook and sweep. It was as if she knew.
After mom died people would try to scare us by knocking on the door but after a while it stopped. What made us stick it out was we were not ready to leave Mom where she was buried.
Park
00:06:55:08 in and amongst the montage
Abbey: Thank you very much.
00:07:18:13 split edit
Sihle: When I see someone walking in the street and I can see that he has a painful heart, my heart hurts for him
00:07:35:10 Agape Children’s home
00:07:46:15 Voice over
Sihle: I stay at Agape, a place where orphans stay.
Kids singing
00:08:08:00 Split edit
Sihle: My father started peeling all over. He couldn’t even walk, he was so sick. He was taken to hospital. They fixed him and then he came back. He just slept. I was sitting with him in the house. We sat and sat then I saw that he had fallen asleep. When I tried to wake him he wouldn’t wake up. Then I went to call granny, then they all came. The next day was Sunday and he was buried.
People say orphaned children are rude. They shouldn’t say that because it’s only that these children are poor. They don’t have a mother or a father.
00:09:10:21 Park
00:09:43:09 Chivaughn’s house
Chivaughn VO: I went to some of the other children’s houses and they also came to our house and had a swim and had a bite to eat and some juice. It was fun.
00:10:03:02 Chivaughn Split edit - I’m rather emotional, I cry at silly things like movies and that kind of thing. I live in Queensborough with my Gran. We moved there because my dad’s business went under so we weren’t doing very well. We moved out to my Gran’s place so we could save more money. Sometimes when my friends had lots of things and I didn’t have any, it was kinda sad, like I didn’t get everything that I wanted but it wasn’t too bad. Now my brother and I share a room but we are very close. I feel lucky that I have such a wonderful mom. We have so much love in our family we always supported everyone. I feel so much happier that I have what I have now. As long as there is love and a supporting family and somebody to stay with.
00:11:09:12 Walking home montage
00:11:55:20 Lucky’s house
00:11:59:23 split edit
Lucky: Nokwanda is my mother’s sister’s child. Mom asked her mother to look after us. Mom wrote her a letter when she was sick and told her she knew that she was dying and if she could please look after us. First the baby got sick and died. He was small. He was still breastfeeding. He was sleeping in the morning, he had been fine. We tried to wake him and he wouldn’t wake up, so we called the doctor and he said the baby was dead. After that Mom followed.
I used to do things for her. When I came back from playing I would give her medicine and she would take it. She was thin, not like the Mom I knew. She was sick, she had AIDS.
00:13:23:16 Lucky continues: So now I live with my auntie who I call Mom. My father doesn’t come to see us. He doesn’t give us money. When we try to call him, he hangs up the phone.
00:13:41:14 Outside – corridors playing
00:13:45:11 Child 1 VO: We just had lots and lots of fun and we knew we were going to have fun till the end.
00:13:52:23 Child 2 VO: We just played around like normal friends who had known each other for a long time.
00:14:03:07 Mli: We are going to sing.
Quick shot of kids playing around
00:14:08:05 Mli sings: Children like to help others
00:14:16:03 Lucky sings: Home… Home…
Quick shot of kids playing around
00:14:21:23 Lucky: That’s the part of the song I like.
00:14:24:18 Luke sings: A Child is a child because of other children. A child is a child because of people.
00:14:34:04 S’fundo sings: Playing together and singing together
00:14:40:13 Chloe performing for the camera: Hello, how are you? I’m news reporter, reporting from Durban live. I’m reporting on the new song for children who are helping children and we are going to sing the song in the studio live and we are going to record a CD
Samantha sticks her head in: and a video!
00:14:59:23 split edit
Chloe: Home was, like, very nice because dad was there and mom was there. I think about the times when we used to bake, I remember there was this one time we invited our friends to a party and we baked this big chocolate cake. I love my chocolate cakes, anyway we used to bake and make a whole mess up in the kitchen and make banana milkshakes and stuff like that.
00:15:23:13 Well, mom was alcoholic so she had to go to hospital and dad paid for that because he was a journalist. So when mom went, dad died and then I had to live my foster parent and then that didn’t work out so I went to live at a children’s home.
00:15:41:00 Shots at the children’s home
00:15:51:14 Chloe continues: Sometimes I get frustrated when I see people, you know when there is a function and moms and dads have to come. It’s like oh gosh, now I don’t have anyone!
Sometimes I get really frustrated in those situations. Sometimes I cry…yeah, I cry.
Kids singing a prayer at the home
00:16:24:18 Chloe continues - It doesn’t make me different from anybody else. It’s just a fact that I’m orphan. I feel more fortunate than some op the people I’ve seen. I get food, some of them don’t, like the people on the streets, I’ve seen them, you know? You can still call it a home because maybe if we don’t get much love from the adults we can share love as sisters and brothers over there.
00:16:55:23 Fun fair
00:18:02:00 Siphelele’s home
00:18:06:04 Split Edit
Siphelele: My mother’s name is Elizabeth Ndlovu and this is my mother.
When I found out what moms status was I just felt worried because I didn’t know anything about HIV and I was just worried that my mom can die anytime.
I just don’t feel happy. Because my mother is HIV positive, I don’t feel happy because there’s nothing to feel happy about.
If I don’t know what the problem is or what she is sick from I just worry that it’s the disease tackling her.
00:18:55:05 Mom lying in a hospital bed and Siphelele comes to visit
Mom: Thank you
Siphelele VO: You just have to pray
Mom: You are my Valentine. Who is yours? (in Zulu but not subtitled – not important to the story)
Siphelele VO: and look after mom.
00:19:04:00 (on the couch)
Siphelele: Sometimes it makes me feel bad sometimes it makes me feel nice because when my mom tells them her status they will know more about it and sometimes I feel bad when they embarrass me and they say funny things.
There’s this feeling in my heart that these people can embarrass me in front of the whole school and tell everyone that my mom is HIV positive and she’s got AIDS
00:19:39:14 Arriving at the Studio
00:19:58:06
Bits of singing in the studio: - Playing together makes us so happy…
- All children need to be cared for…
- Home…
- Other people…
- Playing together…
- What is a home when children are alone?
- Children like to…
00:20:42:13 - 2 kids & teacher by the mic
Kid sings: What is a home?
Teacher: Don’t come in so quickly my child,
Kids makes a few mistakes then…
Kid sings: what is a home to children…
Kids makes a few more mistakes then…
Kid sings: What is a home when there are no parents?
Kid 2 sings: What is a home when the family is sick?
Kid 2: Cameraman please can we have some privacy.
00:21:22:19 The Rural Valley. Kids walking in the Valley
00:21:50:21 Kid VO: We had to walk quiet a far way down all these hills to get to his house.
I’ve never been to an area like that but walking down the hills, it was so… I really liked it. It seemed so nice. All the hills with grass and the trees and all of that.
00:22:27:21 Kids walk up to the hill
Kid VO: How many years have you been living alone?
Sihle translates: How many years have you been living alone?
00:22:42:23 Mli: We have lived alone for 2 years.
00:22:48:19 Sihle translates: They’ve stayed for two years alone without their mother and father.
00:22:52:10 Sally-Anne: What school does he go to and second of all how long does it take him to get to his school?
00:22:57:19 Mli: I go to Nonkwenkwana School and it takes me two hours to walk there.
00:23:03:16 Chloe’s voice: Is the community quite friendly here?
00:23:07:00 Mli: The community is split in half. Some are friendly to us and some are not.
00:23:13:03 Luke: How did your mother pass away?
00:23:15:03 Mli: My mom was sick. She went to hospital and traditional healers but she died.
00:23:23:07 Sihle translates: His mother was very sick. She even went to doctors and traditional doctors but then she got very sick and passed away.
00:23:34:02 split edit Mli: and you Sihle? Since your mother passed away who do you live with and where?
00:23:43:14 Sihle: Oh – about myself? Now that my mom has passed away I stay with my father.
00:23:50:20 Mli: And who does Lucky live with?
Lucky: With my auntie
00:23:56:14 Abbey: Have you ever like dreamt of something and now because your mother has passed away you think that dream won’t come true?
00:24:06:15 Mli: There is nothing I dream of that I think can never happen.
Mli continues: Who does Chloe live with now that she doesn’t have parents?
00:24:19:10 Chloe: I stay in an orphanage.
Mli: When Chloe is alone does she ever get sad and think about her mother and the things that they used to do together?
Chloe: Sometimes.
00:24:37:12 split edit Mli: One good thing about living alone is that we will grow up independent. We can do most things for ourselves. The bad thing is sometimes after school we want to go visit with other kids but because we live alone we can’t.
00:25:01:06 Outside Abbey’s house, Abbey in the house
Abbey hugging his mother
00:25:17:06
Abbey: Hello Mommy
Mom: Hey I didn’t hear you come in
(both above lines not subtitled)
00:25:20:21 Abey: What makes me sad is when my mom goes away. She goes sometimes to Germany for 3, 4 months, sometimes for a year.
If we look back at ourselves, the things we are wearing and then we look at those children, you just get that feeling, what if I was like that?
It just makes me feel bad to think what would it be like if my parents were gone. How would I feel?
00:25:58:24 Abey doing ballet
Hobbies as dancing, I dance ballet. They normally tease people because, when they see all those lifts and those jumps and the splits and all that. Then they start getting jealous. And being mean: it’s for ladies unless you’re a gay person. I just felt bad, and just ignored them. It’s just you don’t like it, it’s not nice when a person calls you something that you know is so unusual.
00:26:41:00 In the car
Mli: Chloe is a child who lives in Pietermaritzburg. She has no parents. That's why I want to see what kind of life they live where she stays. Also if they care for her because as a child you need to be cared for.
00:27:12:09 Chloe - split edit: I think he wants to visit me in particular because it was sort of different from where he stays. I’ll basically show him around and introduce him to the staff when he gets here.
00:27:18:00 Mli & Sifundo arrive by kombi
00:27:27:04 as they walk along outside the building
Mli: Who looks after you here?
Chloe: There are aunties who look after us.
Mli: Do you ever visit anywhere?
Chloe: Yes
Mli: Where do you visit?
Chloe: I visit my aunts or my brother. Uncle Roets lives here.
Mli: Who?
Chloe: He’s like our principal. If you want to live here he…
Mli: He makes it happen?
Chloe: Mmmhm…
Mli: How did you get into contact with him?
Chloe: He’s easily contacted. 00:28:07:11
00:28:12:18 Chloe continues: There are children staying here and there.
Mli: Chloe, how do you feel about living here? Do you like living here?
Chloe: Yes, it’s nice because there are lots of children and we all get along well.
00:28:33:14 Chloe continues: There is a small girl who sleeps here. This is my bedroom. I sleep here with a friend but she is out. When it’s lunchtime or breakfast they ring this bell. There is the fridge. We are allowed to put anything in the fridge. It’s very cold.
00:29:07:00 In the dining area - Mli: Is that where you eat?
Chloe: Yes we eat here.
Mli: Is this everybody?
Chloe: There are others but they have gone out for the weekend to visit family and friends.
00:29:30:02 Looking at photographs
Chloe: This is me.
Mli: Where did your mother live? In a rural area?
Chloe: No she lived at home with us…
This is my aunt…
Here is my mom and dad with the cat…
This is Dad graduating after he finished university...
00:30:11:21 Mli: What was your father?
Chloe: A Journalist…
This is Mom, Dad, my cousin and me…
I was small there…
00:30:32:12 On the bench
Mli: Chloe do you get everything you like here?
Chloe: No because there are a lot of us living here as brothers and sisters.
Mli: What kinds of people live here?
Chloe: There are people who are suffering at home so they come and live here.
Mli: How do you feel about your life since you live here?
Chloe: Life is good because I get everything for free.
Mli: You don’t pay any money?
Chloe: No.
Mli: Do you ever get treated badly?
Chloe: No because I can phone people, so if I want to speak to someone I can phone them. But I’m not treated badly
00:31:33:24 Mli & S’fundo leaving
Chloe on the bench intercut with Mli & S’fundo as they compare their situations
00:31:57:20 split edit Chloe on the bench: Well, what I think was different is the environment that we stay in. He stays in a house and there is much less people. He’s dependant on people but also independent in a way like he cleans his own house but us here we have people to clean for us and things in larger quantities here than at his place.
00:32:21:08 Mli by the fire: Chloe said that their food is cooked for them. They just come when it’s time to eat.
00:32:30:11 Chloe on the bench: I would like to be independent because it gives me a feeling of self-assurance.
00:32:38:05 Mli by the fire: I think I would like to live there because all the children there are happy and carefree and nothing hurts them. We would also be carefree.
00:32:50:21 Chloe on the bench: Basically when we stay here we stay here. The only time we go out if when we go to school and for certain outings or church and stuff. I would basically like more freedom - to be more in the outside world because here you stay at home.
00:33:06:15 Mli by the fire: She is happy, nothing hurts her. If there is something that she wants, sometimes she will get it but not always because there are a lot of children there.
It’s not nice to stay alone because there is no warmth.
The gap I see filled in Chloe is even though in her heart she knows that her parents are gone, you can’t tell she has no parents.
00:33:01:14 Singing in the studio
Home is...
Home is where you get comfort.
Home is...
Home is where you can eat.
Home is...
Home is where there is love.
Home is...
If there's love there, you can call it a home.
00:34:05:12 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:34:26:24 VERSE 1
It's good to give and to help one another,
to make life better
better for us all.
All children need someone to care.
Children need support.
All children need comfort.
00:34:46:00 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:35:06:19 VERSE 2
What is a home if there are no parents?
What is a home if the family is sick?
What is a home to children who have nothing?
Where is a home when children are alone?
Home is...
You feel good when you come home.
Home is...
When you are at home everyone is family.
Home is...
A home is not only about having parents -
or not having parents.
Home is...
Home is where there's lots of love.
Home is where you feel special.
00:35:46:23 CHORUS:
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
00:36:09:08 ZULU VERSE:
Children love to be helpful.
Children feel proud when they help each other.
To those who are poor,
Let us be helpful.
Like we are one family, let’s support each other
We all have feelings.
We like to play and be happy.
We know what joy is, but when things go wrong
we get confused and saddened.
We need love and care.
00:36:50:01 Kids at the park
Madoda with the box
00:37:09:14 Abbey: Can I feel how heavy it is?
Madoda (director): No, you can guess.
Sihle off camera: I think it’s the CD’s.
Abbey: No it’s not! It must be t-shirts or something…Chocolates! Chocolates with our names on it!!!
Madoda: All the chocolates… ah, I told you! All the things that are inside here are enough for all of us so you don’t have to break each others legs.
00:37:38:02 Kids dig into the box
00:37:53:11 Chloe: Oh my! I’m on a CD!!
Chivaughn showing us the CD: There’s me.
Chloe: I want to here how we sound. I want to listen to all the remixes!
They put the music on
Chloe as she listens to song: Ah that’s so cute.
00:38:27:00 Bus driving
00:38:48:23 Teaching each other Zulu (This part we did not translated to build up curiosity amongst the audience who doesn’t speak the language. It explains itself soon enough)
00:39:17:23 Arriving at S’fundo’s school
00:39:32:23 Mli to the school: I’ll tell you about these children. We were all together in Durban and we learned a song together with S’fundo. S’fundo, come and join us.
00:39:42:20 S’fundo joins them
Mli continues: They wanted to see S’fundo’s school and they are happy to meet you all. I’ll let them say a few words.
00:39:59:18 Luke in Zulu: Hello everybody.
00:40:06:13 Chivaughn in Zulu: We have a song that we did together with S’fundo.
00:40:12:00 Alex in Zulu: We want to sing this song for you.
00:40:19:05 Sally – Anne in Zulu: Now we are going to teach you this song.
00:40:23:19 School sings along
Let’s play together…
Lets sing together…
00:40:48:00 Bus driving
00:41:03:05 Teacher: Here at our school Bhensela, we also have orphans. Some only have fathers others have only mothers and some children have no father or mother
00:41:13:00 Singing
00:41:22:07 Chivaughn addresses school - split edit
Chivaughn: I enjoyed everything about this project especially recording a song in the studio and making great friends like these.
00:41:29:13 Lucky: My name is Lucky, Hello.
We have come here to be happy and to teach you the song.
00:41:51:00 Abbey: Um… Hello everyone my name is Abbey and I will translate what he says.
Ok, he says that he’s very happy to be here. He wants to teach you guys the song that we are here to do.
Lucky: Thank you. We will now teach you.
00:42:14:17 School singing
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
00:42:35:22 Kid VO/split edit: Hearing this song makes me feel good. My father has passed away but I don’t feel like crying because this song is comforting.
00:43:12:17 Mli split edit: The song changed me. It was the part where it says “A Child is a child even when there are no parents”. When mom died, S’fundo and I were left alone and the two of us stayed together. So the song changed me in such a way that I can be free as a child.
00:43:35:15 Nokwanda: My favourite part of the song is this: What is a home if there are no parents. What is a home to the children who are alone
00:43:58:06 Lucky: I’m still happy about it. Sometimes my friends and I sit together and sing the song.
00:44:09:03 Mli: Children like this cassette. When I run into them they all sing “We all have feelings” because they know I sing that part.
00:44:22:04 Chivaughn: I hadn’t really experienced different homes where there weren’t parents or anything else like that. So now I know what it’s like I can appreciate thing more than what I did.
00:44:35:14 Luke: I get so much more than them but we are all the same, so why should I get more than them?
00:44:41:12 Alex: It’s really amazing to see everyone one from different backgrounds, seeing how they live. Like when we went up to Mli’s house, I couldn’t believe that he lives by himself and provides for him and his brother. They don’t have any parents to look after them. I was more amazed than sorry that they can survive like that. It teaches me how much I take things for granted.
00:45:11:22 Chloe: If I was a street child ok, and I had someone who really loved me and we lived in a corner of …I don’t know where and we loved each other and respected each other and shared whatever we had, we’d be really like a family unit. I would be able to call that place home.
00:45:30:22 Nokwanda: It makes me feel that I should be helpful to children who don’t have parents.
00:45:38:23 Sihle: I wouldn’t be able to live like Mli & S’fundo because I’m too scared of being alone.
00:45:51:00 Mli & S’fundo’s homestead
Mli & S’fundo’s kneeling and speaking to their ancestor, their mother
00:46:02:06 Mli: Mama, we are speaking to you. We are leaving to go o granny’s like you said we should. Let our journey be successful and protect us from accidents. We are now leaving. Us – your children.
00:46:23:01 Mli & S’fundo walking and getting into a minibus
Mli: We left our family home because we stayed alone and slept alone. When it was just S’fundo and me at home, he got a sore on his foot. He couldn’t go to school.
00:46:55:16 Mli (and S’fundo) in the minibus: We then went to Granny’s and soon the sore started healing. The medication started to work, yet before, when we were back home it didn’t help. When Mom was alive, she said that we must leave, so maybe it was her way of telling us it was time to go.
00:47:27:24 Mli & S’fundo with granny and all the other kids.
00:48:06:00 CD playing montage
A child is a child because of other children.
A child is a child because of other people.
Playing together makes us so happy.
Let's play together.
Let's sing together.
What is a home if there are no parents?
What is a home if the family is sick?
What is a home to children who have nothing?
Where is a home when children are alone?
00:49:15:18 Credits
Home is...
You feel good when you come home.
Home is...
When you are at home everyone is family.
Home is where there's lots of love.
End credits 00:51:36:06