BANA AL-ABED (BIGGS/WOLFF) -- PBS NHWE NOV 4,  2017

FINAL.  TRT: 6:38

 

(SUGGESTED ANCHOR LEAD)

ONCE SYRIA’S MOST POPULOUS CITY, ALEPPO HAS BEEN BOMBED INTO RUINS DURING THE COUNTRY’S SIX YEAR CIVIL WAR.

ONE OF THE FACES -- AND VOICES -- OF THE PLIGHT OF SYRIAN CIVILIANS  DURING THE SIEGE OF ALEPPO WAS A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL NAMED BANA AL ABED, WHO DEVELOPED A WORLDWIDE FOLLOWING ON TWITTER.

(F/S)(( GFX BOOK COVER))

BANA IS NOW EIGHT, AND WITH HER MOTHER, SHE’S AUTHORED A BOOK ABOUT SURVIVING THE CONFLICT...AND ESCAPING IT.

IT’S CALLED “DEAR WORLD: A SYRIAN GIRL’S STORY OF WAR AND PLEA FOR PEACE.”

(ON CAMERA)

“NEWSHOUR WEEKEND” SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MARCIA BIGGS RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH BANA AND HER MOTHER, IN TURKEY.

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(PKG)

 

Getting ready for school b-roll

IN TURKEY’S CAPITAL OF ANKARA, THIS IS A TYPICAL MORNING IN THE LIFE OF AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD. MAKING HER BED, BRUSHING HER TEETH, AND GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL. BUT FOR BANA AL ABED, THIS IS A LONG WAY FROM WHERE SHE WAS JUST ONE YEAR AGO.

 

Bana in Aleppo Aleppo FILE

SHE WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT FORCES AND REBELS -- ALONG WITH HER PARENTS, TWO BROTHERS, AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER SYRIANS -- DURING THE FOUR-YEAR BATTLE OF ALEPPO, WHICH ENDED LAST YEAR.

 

Video of bana cowering under bombs

 

BANA ABED: 3260 12:46 they still bomb in the night, in the morning, in afternoon, in the evening.

 

FILE Assad. Aleppo bombing

HER MOTHER, FATEMAH SAYS, THE WAR TURNED THEIR FAMILY’S SIMPLE AND IDYLLIC LIFE INTO HELL...WITH SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL ASSAD RELENTLESSLY BOMBING THE REBEL-HELD EASTERN SIDE OF THE CITY, WHERE THE AL ABED FAMILY LIVED.

Bana walking in rubble

 

MARCIA BIGGS 38:23: What was it that made you stay so  long?

FATEMAH ABED 38:52: We are Syrian people, and this is our country. And what we face there, we kept hoping that this day maybe will-- the war will stop, or that they-- the bomb will stop this month or next month.

 

Bana covering her ears

 

IN JULY OF LAST YEAR, WHEN ASSAD BLOCKED DELIVERIES OF FOOD INTO ALEPPO, THE POSSIBILITY OF STARVATION BECAME MORE THREATENING THAN BOMBS. THE AL ABED FAMILY SURVIVED ON RICE AND MACARONI.

 

Natsound of Bana in bed (coughs)

 

BANA ABED 3259 16:14: I was very sick and my dad go outside to find to me some medicine.//Because there is no medicine, no hospitals. I was too sick.

 

Bana’s video in front of her school  

 

THEN WHEN BANA’S SCHOOL WAS BOMBED, HER MOM SAYS, BANA CAME UP WITH THE IDEA TO POST A VIDEO ONLINE.

 

BANA ABED 3259/12:24: First thing I said to mom, ‘Why the people didn’t know about us.

FATEMAH ABED 3232 01:08:45: So she want to post in Facebook, but I said ‘No, //Twitter is more strong or more powerful.’

MARCIA: It reaches more people?

FATEMAH: Yes.

 

Graphic 01 Tweet from 9/24/16:

 

BANA’S FIRST TWEET SAID SIMPLY: “I NEED PEACE.”  

 

Graphic 02  (Tweets that followed 0--see comments to the right)

HUNDREDS MORE TWEETS FOLLOWED, MANY WITH PICTURES AND VIDEOS, SHOT BY HER MOTHER...  

 

Graphic 03

Bana in front of the window with bombs Natsound “Good Morning from Aleppo”

 

“Good morning from Aleppo”

 

“We don’t have food, Aleppo under siege”

 

...APPEALING TO PRESIDENTS ASSAD AND PUTIN TO STOP THE BOMBS.

 

Graphic 04Tweet from 9/27/16: THE SIGN

Please stop killing us, we need peace, I need peace to become a teacher #Aleppo

 

graphic 05-

 

“We are afraid”

 

BANA BEGGED THE WORLD TO LISTEN AND HELP CHILDREN JUST LIKE HER....

 

We can’t go out

BANA ABED: I want them to go to the park, play, learn, when they hurt themselves go to the hospital.

MARCIA BIGGS: And you felt like if you told the world what was happening-

BANA ABED:  Yeah, they will help.

 

Graphic 06 Twitter followers rising Natsound

hello my friends how are you? we are fine today kiss kiss

 

Bana with “Stand for Aleppo” hashtag

 

“Stand with Aleppo!”

 

INSPIRING THE HASHTAG “STAND WITH ALEPPO,” BANA’S TWITTER FOLLOWERS GREW.

 

Graphic 07

TODAY, SHE HAS OVER 360-THOUSAND. ASSAD CALLED HER ACCOUNT, WHICH IS MANAGED BY HER MOTHER, “PROPAGANDA.”

 

MARCIA BIGGS 3234 11:13: how do you react to those, who say that she was only tweeting what you told her to tweet?

FATEMAH ABED 13:44: I did what she wants, she want just peace and she is a child and she deserve life.

MARCIA BIGGS: And she wanted to post all the time?

FATEMAH ABED:: Yes of course, she was-she was like yes mom, today there was a lot of bomb, we should do something, we should the people that today I am not fine //

 

FATEMAH SAYS THEY AREN’T GOING TO STOP SPEAKING OUT.

 

FATEMAH ABED: I am a mother, and I want to go and protect my children. Not just for Bana or her brothers, we were talking // in Syria, about millions of families, we are normal family and all the children deserve to live.

 

“Hello my friends how are you, we are fine today”

 

SHE SAYS THE POSITIVE RESPONSES ON TWITTER SAVED THEM.

 

“I love you my friends”

 

FATEMAH ABED 3234/05:13: That's make us feel, not just hope, no, we feel that the war will end, and we'll get peace again.

 

Graphic 09 17 November Stand with Aleppo Twitter video

 

“I want to try to  be alive on Sunday if there is no bombing, thank you, bye.”

 

BUT AS THE ALABEDS -- AND THEIR TWITTER FOLLOWERS -- WATCHED HELPLESSLY, THE SIEGE CONTINUED, AND THE BOMBINGS INTENSIFIED.

 

Bana tweet 10 Photo of Yasmin

Tweet:  “Oh, dear world, I am crying tonight, this is my friend killed by a bomb tonight.  I can’t stop crying”

 

ONE NIGHT AIRSTRIKES HIT BANA’S BEST FRIEND’S HOUSE.  SHE WITNESSED HER LIFELESS BODY BEING PULLED FROM THE RUBBLE. SHE LATER TWEETED I CAN’T STOP CRYING.

 

BANA ABED  3259/ 7:39 : She was like sleeping, she was dead. Yeah, I feel sad and my mom said let’s go Bana.

 

GFX Bana tweet 11

27 november tweet: tonight we have no house, it’s bombed, and I got in rubble.  I saw deaths and I almost died”

 

Photo of dusty Bana

Video from the house

 

THREE DAYS LATER, THE BOMBS MADE A DIRECT HIT ON BANA’S OWN HOME.  SHE TWEETED: “TONIGHT WE HAVE NO HOUSE.  IT’S BOMBED, AND I GOT IN RUBBLE.  I SAW DEATHS, AND I ALMOST DIED.”

 

FATEMAH RECORDED THIS VIDEO THE NEXT DAY.

 

FATEMAH ABED 3292/4:01: Our home disappeared. Like, there was no hope now. Everything now became like a shadow for us.//15:00 4:01 I became a refugee in my country.

 

Buses leaving Aleppo, video of bombs on the road

THE FAMILY FINALLY DECIDED TO FLEE, AND LAST DECEMBER, THEY WERE ON ONE OF THE LAST BUSES OUT OF ALEPPO...MAKING A PERILOUS JOURNEY ON ROADS LINED WITH BOMBS AND SNIPERS…AND FINALLY ARRIVING IN TURKEY.

 

BANA ABED 3260/11:17: I was very happy to see fruits and, and orange, apples, bananas, I feel very happy.

MARCIA BIGGS: It had been a long time since you had eaten any of those things?

BANA ABED:  Yes.

 

Erdogan embracing her

TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN CAPITALIZED ON HER CELEBRITY AND PERSONALLY WELCOMED THE AL-ABEDS. AND UNLIKE MOST OF THE OTHER TWO-AND-A-HALF MILLION SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY, THE FAMILY WAS GRANTED CITIZENSHIP.

 

Walking down the street to the park

TODAY, IN ANKARA, BANA CAN BE A CHILD AGAIN. BUT SHE HASN’T FORGOTTEN THOSE SHE LEFT BEHIND.  

 

Bana tweet12- BOOK GRFX TEMPLATE

Find a better “those who remain in cities under siege” still

 

BANA AND FATEMAH SAY THEIR BOOK DEAR WORLD IS DEDICATED TO EVERY CHILD SUFFERING IN WAR...THE MILLIONS OF DISPLACED SYRIANS...AS WELL AS THOSE WHO STILL REMAIN IN CITIES UNDER SIEGE.

 

BANA ABED: I want the kids to be strong, not feel scared about- from the bombs, to help each other when someone like feel scary-ed. Some, some of the kids say, “Don’t be scared.” Help each other, be good.

 

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·         No lower thirds!