Rubbish
tip Final Scrip 30-04-2016 |
Change boxes 10, 14, 42, 49 |
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Pic |
Comm/Sync |
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Drone shots of rubbish tip. |
Pre
title This
is the rubbish tip for the city of Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Each
day it gets bigger, fed by a fleet of trucks bringing ever more waste. For
some people, it’s also the final escape from war. Because the tip provides a
living for hundreds of refugees. This is their story. |
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13 year old Ibrahim from Syria, works with his father |
Ibrahim: A kilo of plastic is worth 250 Iraqi dinars Namak: What’s your daily rate? I: It depends. I collect about 100 kilos N: How much would you get for that? I: About $10 N: So your daily rate is $10? I: Yes N: What do you do when you get home? I: I have a shower, then I sleep We don't play games and stuff N: Not even football? I: No. It’s tiring, working here till one o’clock After that it’s too hot to play football N: Would you like to work somewhere else? I: I’d like to work in a clean place But here there’s nothing else Come and meet my father |
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COMM Ibrahim
and his family are Kurds from Kobani in Syria. They’ve been working on the
dump for six months. |
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M: There are eight of us at home. Our lives are hard Every day I come here with my son We need $300 for rent We also have to save for food and stuff We barely manage My other son broke both his legs so they put screws in One was taken out. We can’t afford to do the other N: Do you miss your friends in Syria? I: Yes I do If it wasn’t for IS I would have gone back M: It’s not about IS If my house were still there, I’d have gone back But where should we go now? N: Your house was destroyed? M: Nothing’s left My house and all the furniture have gone M: My brother showed me on the internet It’s been flattened, just like this place M: I want to go back If I had a place to live, I’d go. IS isn’t the problem Our only choice is to stay here and survive Where should I take my family? |
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COMM Ibrahim
would much rather be at school. He’s 13, and some of the other children are
even younger. |
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8 years old |
Namak: How old are you? Boy: I’m eight N: Why do you work here? Boy: My granny told me to come and help her |
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Young boy from Mosel. |
Boy: I’m from Mosul N: Why are you here? Boy: Because of IS They destroyed our homes We left just with what we were wearing My grandfather was in hospital When they attacked Mosul we couldn’t get him out |
4 years girl and 6 years old brother, ·
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N: Where are her shoes? Boy: She doesn’t have any |
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COMM It’s
July, and the temperature at the dump can reach 50 degrees. The burning rubbish causes a stench that can be smelt 15
kilometres away in Erbil. People there are demanding that the toxic tip be
closed. Those working on it just have to put up with the filth. |
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Old man with his daughters, |
I don’t have a job This is my only work I have to work in this rubbish tip N: How many of your family work here? Man: Me and my two daughters The others are very young They stay with their mother This one and my other daughter Where did your sister go? Daughter: She’s working |
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Tarfah
and her daughter Malayeen come here most days. They sift the rubbish for
anything they can sell. They belong to a large family of Bedouins from
northern Iraq. |
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Barzan mother |
We used to have a good life We never did this kind of work Recent events forced us to work here We’ve got kids but we have no proper home There’s no electricity or gas We look for things to sell and clothes to wear My kids work at anything to provide medicine for their dad, and food for the family |
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COMM Back home, the family were farmers. They had sheep and other animals, and
were quite well-off. The two wives have 13 children, and Barzan is the
eldest. |
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Barzan and his family leaving the tip. |
Barzan We used to live happily in Bahaj When IS came, we escaped to northern Iraq I do any kind of work Building sites, rubbish tip Namak : Are you going home now? Barzan : Yes Namak: You’ve finished work? Barzan: Yes. We’re done for the day We’re going home |
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We followed them home. |
Barzan: Come and sit down |
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COMM Barzan
and his family have been offered the use of a house by a local Kurdish
landowner. To make it liveable, they depend on what they find at the dump. |
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Of loading the stuff they collected. |
Barzan’s mother We found some wood to burn We can heat water to give the kids a hot shower We found a mattress for the kids to sit on After we’ve washed it they can sit on it Malayeen found this jacket. She can wear it in winter I found all this wood We sit on this cardboard in the kitchen Malayeen found this bag too Namak: What’s in the bag? Malayeen: I found these shoes Mother: Do they fit you? They’re too big |
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COMM Sometimes
they even find food amongst the rubbish. Nothing edible is wasted. |
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Mother: This is macaroni Malayeen: I found it. My mother will it them for me Malayeen: I found this too. I don’t know what it is Mother: Maybe they’re nuts? |
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Barzan mother in the house, |
In Bahaj the Iraqi government gave us food We got it every month We didn’t need to buy food from the market It was safe We were farming Now there’s no farming in Bahaj There’s no work and it’s not safe That’s why we came to Kurdistan |
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COMM Yousra
is the second wife. She has five young children and spends most of her time
at home. |
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Mother: Where is Yousra? Give me the oil Give me the rice Where’s the other lighter? |
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Second wife, making bread. |
Second
wife: I’m baking bread The food’s ready for when they get back from work My parents are still in Mosul There’s no work there They have nothing My father’s salary has stopped Namak: So they’re not happy there? Second wife: Not at all I miss them terribly Namak: Can’t they come here? Second wife: No, because the roads are closed Namak: What do they do there? Second wife: Nothing at all |
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Barzan’s mother Carry on cooking Go and make the rice |
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COMM Mohammed
is the husband of Tarfah and Yousra. He used to be a prosperous farmer, but
now he has to depend on his wives and children. |
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Barzan’s father I have chronic heart and kidney illness Namak: Have you been sick a long time? Barzan’s father: For about five years |
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Family having a launch |
Barzan’s mother Medicines are expensive Each prescription is about $50 The kids do all sorts of work. Either at the tip or on a farm Half the money goes on medication, half on food |
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COMM With
so many mouths to feed, it’s a constant struggle to earn enough money. The
family’s diet is basic, and far from nutritious. |
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Eating |
Mother: Have some rice He likes to eat by himself, the bastard |
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COMM Meanwhile,
Muhammed’s need for expensive medicines is putting them under huge extra
pressure. |
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At home |
Barzan: These are the injections he must have Barzan’s father: The medicine’s keeping me alive |
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COMM Barzan
and his brother are taking their father to hospital. He’s diabetic, and needs
to see a doctor regularly. They’ll have to pay; and the family is worried he
may not make it to the end of the year. |
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COMM Six
months later. It’s January 2016. Conditions
are freezing but no matter the season, the rubbish from Erbil keeps piling
up. The first trucks produce the best pickings. Even at 4am, some people are
at work. Ibrahim
and his father, the Syrian Kurds from Kobani, get here two hours later. But
the most valuable items have already gone. |
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Ibrahim and his father in winter, 4 months later, |
Ibrahim’s dad: Our lives have been destroyed We have no work and no income We come here because we’re desperate If my family find out that I work here, they’ll be really upset When they ask what I do for a living, I say I’m a house-painter If I miss one day here, our income is seriously affected |
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COMM Work
at the tip is uncertain and poorly paid, but even more people are scavenging
now than in July. Some of them have surprising backgrounds. |
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Engineer student. |
I used to be a freelance engineer
My brother’s a doctor, my father’s a university professor Lots of the people here are graduates or university students The situation in Iraq is really bad There’s no work This is our only option The Iraqi government doesn’t care about the people They’re too busy stealing Having a good life Let them come and see how we live Would they want this for their kids? |
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COMM For one family, things have got
better. Since the summer Mohammed's health has improved. He and his wives and
children are still living in the house belonging
to Hedi, the Kurdish landowner. And now Hedi’s pays them to work on his farm. |
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Barzan in the house, 6 months later, farming |
Barzan: We use this generator for watering the farm It makes a loud noise Mr Hedi promised to get a quieter one Without the funny noise |
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Barzan and Hedi farming. |
Barzan: How are you, Hedi? Did you have some tea? We work on this farm every day We pull up the vegetables In the afternoon we leave them in the water It makes it easier to wash off the dirt Then we load them in the car |
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COMM Hedi
doesn’t speak much Arabic and Barzan speaks only a little Kurdish. But by mixing the two languages, they manage to understand
each other. |
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Mixture of both languages, |
Hedi: Don’t you prefer your home town? Barzan: Yes, but there’s no work there Hedi: You feel like a guest here, right? Barzan: Yes, like a guest |
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Hedi: I pay them for the days they work N: What’s his daily rate? Hedi. $10 per day. N: How many hours? Hedi: From 7am till around 5pm N: Haven’t you also given them shelter? Hedi: I gave them a house to live in It’s good for all of us I’m alone If I don’t have them, I can’t do it all by myself Barzan: Amani, call Lialy Both of you, take these vegetables to the pool |
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COMM Unlike
most of the refugees, Mohammed and his family have returned to something like
their old way of life. But it’s small compensation. The Iraq Mohammed knew
has gone forever. |
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Barazan father |
Barzan’s father: Things were better under Saddam We were safe I miss the old Iraq There was no difference between Kurds, Shias or Sunnis Iraq You could travel from border to border The old Iraq We Bedouins lived freely in the desert When IS took control, they started ambushing us If they caught us they’d take our sheep They took our cars too It got really bad That’s why we came to Kurdistan. It’s safe |
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COMM
Thanks
to their friendship with Hedi, the family’s circumstances have definitely
improved. But life is still far harder than anything they knew back home in
Mosel. |
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Second wife: |
Yousra: Our life is tough My husband and the old woman are both sick There’s no medicine Our life is terrible It’s winter and it’s very cold The kids will freeze if we don’t keep them warm We don’t have any heaters It’s dreadful I’m sad and depressed We used to live in heaven, even though we’re Bedouins Life was joyful Surrounded by family and relatives Here I have no-one When my brothers were around we didn’t need a thing Every day I sit crying and think of them But what’s the point? There’s no solution How life has changed Back then, I had everything |
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End |
COMM Ibrahim
and his father are no longer working on the rubbish tip. They’ve found jobs
in a chicken factory. Despite the calls to close the toxic dump, it remains open. So long as it does, it will offer Kurdistan’s most
desperate refugees some kind of living. |