SUMMARY

AUDIO

Captions

Pre-title

Sidi:

It’s really hot here, not just normal heat.

Like fire.

If you pour water, it’ll evaporate because of the heat.

Tough, tough, tough.

Extremely hot.

Here it gets hotter than 50 degrees C, so Sidi has to dig at dawn.

Sidi:

Working in the mine is getting worse year after year,

because of climate change.

Global warming is now driving people from their homes.

Sidi:

Take care of yourself.

Mohammed:

I’ll look for a job at sea or in the fishing industry.

in search of a better life.

(SS suggestion -- we lose this caption, it’s split over subs and implied). AGREE

And to escape the encroaching sands,

When the sands come, there will be nothing left.

which could destroy the past as well as the future….

Librarian:

This book has been treated badly by the heat...

Life at 50C: Mauritania

Place caption:

Zouérat Salt Flats

Name caption:

Sidi Fadoua

Salt miner

Sidi:

This is the best salt in the whole of Africa.

My ancestors used to work this land.

I have no choice but to look for work elsewhere.

Caption:

Fdérik, 20km from Zouérat

Caption:

Climate change has made a drought here worse, threatening other livelihoods  too

This is a sheep and this is a sheep.

And this is a goat.

The climate has changed in the last decade.

It’s got a lot hotter and there’s less rain.

Name caption:

Mohammed Cheikh Choumouh

Goat herder

It’s why we don’t have enough food for our livestock.

We give them cardboard instead.

They didn't like it at the beginning.

But then they accepted it,

because otherwise they'd starve.

GFX Map

Captions:

Because of climate change, this former oasis is being swallowed by the Sahara.

Chinguetti is a UNESCO site. Once it was home to 20,000 people.

Today there are less than 1,000 and they’re fighting to save their homes.

Caption:

Mohammed Lemine

Date farmer

Mohammed:

This is a big sand dune.

There was no sand here before.

Now it’s full of sand everywhere.

This is home, this is our house and the small dune you see right now it came over the wall.

This is home. The small dune there came over the wall.

When the sand gets this high, we take the shovel and throw it out of the door.

This is the grove I inherited from my father.

These are the palm trees.

We’re going to build a fence to protect them from the dune.

Caption:

Fdérik

Mohammed is leaving town.

Mohammed:

 Zouérat is extremely hot.

We’re taking our sheep to sell in Nouadhibou. We’ll look for a decent life there.

I’ll look for a job at sea or in the fishing industry.

Or maybe I'll set up a business or open a shop

with the money from selling the animals.

Zouérat is the point of departure for one of the longest trains in the world. 

The train carries iron ore from the mines to the coast.

(SS suggestion: The train carries raw metals from Zouérat’s iron ore mines to the coast CM – it’s the mined iron ore that’s carried, not the metal itself)

And sometimes, people too...

Sidi:

I need to get everything ready for my trip on the train.

I have to make sure the torches work.

CAPTION:

Sidi is taking the train because he’s looking for a better job.

(SS suggestion: “Sidi is taking the train today to find better work”, perhaps seems a bit off when we see he has so little?)

But it means leaving his family.

Sidi:

Come and help me.

Don't be afraid.

Mauritanian girls are never afraid.

My wife's name is Maynatu.

Most men here are jobless.

They leave us for a long time, looking for jobs,

and we women are suffering too.

Ali, give me a kiss.

Goodbye, sweetheart.

Take care of yourself and the kids.

Bye-bye Aychatu, give me a kiss.

Take care of yourself.

My dream is to find a stable and decent job in Nouadhibou,

and to take my family to live there,

so my children have a good future.

The train’s coming. 

Look, the train.

The train is meant to carry freight, but they let us ride for free.

Caption:

The train is 2km long.

The 650 700 km journey lasts 20 hours.

Caption

Mohammed is hitching a ride too.

Sidi has never met Mohammed before but they’ll travel together for company.

Pull the salt up.

It’s heavy.

The bag’s too heavy. I’m going to throw them one by one.

We’ll travel day and night.

It’s a long and tiresome journey.

It’s good.

This is water.

This is the Sahara, the desert.

No rain, there’s nothing at all.

Nothing but misery.

Caption:

30km from Chinguetti

Mohammed is taking his son Deddah to this local landmark.

Mohammed Lemine:

Look here.

CAPTION:

On the peak of Agrour Amogjar are prehistoric rock paintings.

What you see here was made by our ancestors.

By the grandfathers of our grandfathers.

This is a giraffe.

This is its head.

Here are its long neck and legs.


When the sands come, there’ll be nothing left.

It breaks my heart to see it fading.

Mohammed and Sidi are halfway through their journey to Nouadhibou.

We Mauritanians need our tea,

especially when travelling.

It’s good tea.

Add some sugar, please.

By day the temperature can be 50C. At night it plummets to near freezing.

Caption:

Chinguetti has a unique heritage as a medieval centre of Islamic learning.

NAME CAPTION:

Seif El Islam

Librarian

This is the library.

In the name of God.

Peace be upon you.

How are you?

What’s up? All good?

All ok, thank God. How’s your health?

All good, thank God. How are you?

Seif’s library houses over 700 Quranic manuscripts from the Middle Ages.

What you see here isn’t a toothbrush.

It’s the famous key from that era.

You open it like this.

We’ve begun making our best efforts to preserve them.

Look at the oldest book that we have.

And here you can see the impact of climate change and the expanding desert.

This book has been badly damaged by the heat.

It's falling apart,

the pages are broken.

And here’s another one that’s worn out,

for the same reasons.

An original manuscript of one of our most precious poems.

‘I remember a giant tree that lived

for centuries here.’

‘But it died and was gradually buried

under the shifting sand.’

‘Nothing lasts forever, everything disappears.’

‘Only their stories remain.’

Mohamed fears that without help, the town’s rich history will vanish forever.

like his family date palms.

Mohamed:

It’s getting much more difficult now than in the past.

the sand is our mother and everything will be under it in the end

Our journey was enjoyable,

even if we were covered in dust all the way.

My clothes are filthy because of the dust,

but it’s not a big problem.

The most important thing is that we’ve arrived in Nouadhibou.

Hold them carefully.

Ok, he’s got it.

Caption:

The goats are about to have their first decent meal in months…

some bread.

Caption: Mohammed will now sell his livestock to fund a fresh start.

Place caption:

Nouadhibou

Sidi:

I came to Nouadhibou,

Mauritania’s economic capital,

hoping to find work and a better way of life.


I came from a place of heat.

Here the weather is nice and cool.

Summer temperatures in Nouadhibou rarely reach above 35C.

I’m happy by the sea.

 May God help me find work here.

I’m hopeful, very hopeful indeed.


Sidi and Mohammed are now looking for  in a Chinese fishing firm.

He plans to ride the train back to see his family soon.

​​Sidi didn’t find work on this trip. But he plans to return to try again soon.

Credits