POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2022
title
29
mins 25 secs
©2022
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
GPO
Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
"My child-mind built it
up. Daydreaming that maybe someday I'll walk outside and there'll be this
long, black stretched car pulling up in front of my house ... and then he
would get out ... and kneel-down and greet me. You know, kneel down and
outstretch his arms to me." American Jared Morrison has
dreamed of meeting his dad since he was a kid. Like many young Saudi men,
Jared's father came to America to study in the 1970s. At university, he met
Jared's mum and they had a relationship but when she became pregnant, he
disappeared back home. Throughout his childhood and
into adulthood, Jared was obsessed with finding his Saudi father. "I had that
overwhelming urge and drive ... to find him, locate him, learn about him,
learn about the culture. It was just an innate instinct." Jared connected once on the
phone when he was in his early twenties but his
father rejected him. Now that Saudi Arabia has begun to open
up to the world, Jared wants to try again. Reporter Brietta Hague and
Saudi producer Essam Al-Ghalib tell the exclusive story of Jared as he
travels to the Kingdom to try and track down his father. It's a dangerous, fraught and emotionally risky mission. Jared's family is powerful
and well-connected in Saudi and Jared bumps up against the unwritten rules of
a deeply conservative society, which values reputation and family honour
above all. Jared is not the only one. Saudi men abroad continue to
father and abandon children. In Guatemala, we meet a young boy and his single
mother, his Saudi father long since departed. Sami Alrajhi Chang visits the
mosque every week to learn Arabic in the hope he may one day meet his Saudi
family. Sami's father Sulaiman came
to study in the USA as part of a Saudi government scholarship programme.
There he met student Mandre Chang. Despite promising her marriage and a life
together, he abandoned Mandre days after Sami's birth. Mandre and Sami are part of
a global network of people searching for answers. Stone-walled by the Saudi
government and embassies, Mandre sought the help of a blog called 'Saudi
Children Left Behind', a platform encouraging the children and ex-partners of
Saudi men to publish their stories of abandonment in the hope they'll make
contact. This is an untold story
about the powerful human impulse to connect with family, against all odds,
and a rare insight into the rigid rules governing this hidden Kingdom – rules
about kinship, obligation and family honour. |
|
Episode
teaser |
Music |
00:10 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: For decades,
thousands of Saudi Arabian men have travelled abroad as university students.
Many take advantage of their new freedom to have relationships with foreign
women, only to abandon them when they become pregnant. |
00:13 |
|
SAMI: He told my mum he'd come back, but he
never returned. |
00:29 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Now, the children
they left behind are searching for answers... |
00:34 |
|
JARED: I spent thousands and thousands of
hours searching for him. |
00:38 |
|
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: …and yearning to know their Saudi fathers. |
00:42 |
Brietta
and Essam |
I'm Brietta Hague, an Australian filmmaker
and journalist. For the last year I've been working with Saudi journalist
Essam Al Ghalib and we've been investigating Saudi
children abroad who've been abandoned by their fathers. |
00:47 |
|
ESSAM: I do hope that the father does
recognise him. |
01:02 |
Saudi
GVs |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: The
wealthy Arab kingdom is now opening to the world. Will it finally
acknowledge the Saudi children left behind? |
01:05 |
Title:
Saudi Children Left Behind |
|
01:15 |
Washington
GVs. Super: |
Music
|
01:19 |
Jared
and Bridget at home |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Jared
Morrison is as all-American as they come. |
01:31 |
Jared
and Bridget at table. Jaren says grace |
Jared:
"You want to me to say a blessing or you want
me to?" Bridget:
"No, I want you to." |
01:36 |
|
Jared:
"Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this delicious meal you've
blessed us with this day, and we ask you to help us have a wonderful
day…" |
01:39 |
Photos.
Jared |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: A Washington State Guard and full-time insurance agent; he
values God, |
01:47 |
Jared
says grace |
his
family and hard work. But from a young age he knew he was different from the
other kids in his white, working-class town. |
01:53 |
Photo.
Jared as teenager |
JARED: So my full
name is Jared Al-Jasser Morrison. My father was a student |
02:06 |
Jared
interview |
at Portland State University in the '70s, as
well as Clark College across the river in Vancouver. He and my mother met at
Clark College when she was a student there as well, around 1974, and they
fell in love, and they dated for a while, and my mother wound up pregnant
with me, and upon hearing that, I think my father had some challenges or some
fear, and they eventually split up and he went back to Saudi Arabia. |
02:10 |
Family
photo. Jared with grandparents |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: Jared was raised by his mother and grandparents. When he was
six years old, his mother told him he had a father in an Arab kingdom. |
02:38 |
Jared
driving |
JARED:
My child mind built it up.
Daydreaming that maybe someday I'll walk outside and there'll be this long,
black stretched car pulling up in front of my house with diplomatic flags
lining the vehicle, and then he would get out wearing you know, his thobe and
shemagh and kneel down and greet me. Kneel down and outstretch his arms to me. |
02:48 |
Archival.
Saudi oil boom GVs |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: But Saudi Arabia was not the romantic world of his childhood
imagination. An oil boom had made the Bedouin society staggeringly rich.
Families grew powerful through international trade, while ultra conservative
clerics railed against Western decadence. Young men could have experiences
abroad; back home, they were expected to forget them or keep them secret. |
03:14 |
Jared
drives to Clark College |
JARED:
So my understanding is they met at a party here. Obviously there was some attraction, they started dating,
and according to my mum they started to go steady, right, not see anybody
else. He spoke English very well, he was very educated, he presented himself
very well. BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: A deep desire to know his Saudi father grew into an
obsession to find him. |
03:48 |
Jared
walks Clark College campus |
JARED: So when I
started looking for my father, the first attempt was when I was 12 years old.
My mother woke me up about two o'clock in the morning. I remember her
dialling international information, trying to navigate that. And then you
fast forward 20 plus years until the beginning of 2000s, that's when I picked
up and started searching for him again. I spent thousands and thousands of
hours. It took me a couple of years; ultimately I
managed to get my father's cell phone number in Riyadh. |
04:19 |
Jared
interview on campus |
I'll never forget my heart was just 'boom boom
boom' – racing – it literally felt like it was beating out of my chest. He
finally says 'What do you want'. So now here's my
chance, here's my chance to give him my sales pitch right. |
04:51 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: After initially
denying paternity, he finally admitted Jared was his son. JARED: I said, "Mr. Al-Jasser" –
I'd never address him as father or dad or anything like that – so I said, |
05:04 |
|
"Do you have any desire or intention to
ever know me?" And almost as if I asked you if you would like your steak
rare - it was just very matter of fact, "I'm sorry, but no". All of a sudden, the only thing I could think of is my mum
telling me when I was 12 years old that I could be setting myself up for a
psychological punch in the nose. I was so shocked, it literally, I felt it
physically. It blew me away that someone could just have the emotional switch
completely turned off like that. It's still foreign to me to this day. |
05:19 |
Jared
walks on campus |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: The rejection has
had a profound impact on Jared's life. |
06:05 |
Jared
drives |
JARED: The mistake of one parent, the act or
omission of one parent, can have consequences for generations to come. |
06:12 |
Jared
fishing. Interview by river |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: But Jared has never
given up the dream of finding his father. JARED: I had that overwhelming urge and
drive to find him, locate him, learn about him, learn about the culture, it
was just an innate instinct. |
06:22 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: As Saudi Arabia
opens to the world, entering as a tourist is possible for the first time.
Jared has decided to travel to the kingdom to try and make
contact with his family. |
06:36 |
|
JARED: It's a dream I've always had since I
was a child, to explore that cultural heritage, that genetic pull. I can't
really describe it, but I've always been fascinated with trying to explore
the links to my brown skin and my dark hair. Hopefully I'll be able to
connect with my father. |
06:50 |
|
"No, no, no!... I thought we were going
to be having salmon for dinner tonight. I want to cry… |
07:12 |
Jared
barbecue with friends |
So I
pull it in as far as I could, wearing brand new shoes. It was either a salmon
or a steelhead. No shite." |
07:42 |
|
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: A few days before his flight to the kingdom, Jared's close
friends gather to farewell him. |
07:56 |
Jared
and Aaron |
AARON:
I have a hard time even grasping what you have to be
going through in your heart and in your head. I'll be honest – you may answer
some questions, but at what cost? |
08:02 |
|
JARED:
Yeah, well, I think I've already paid the price when he flat out told me that
he had no interest in knowing me. He's in his early 70s, he's got to be
coming up on 74 right now. While he's reflecting on his life and he tries to
make amends, or rationalise all the things he's done and ask for forgiveness,
am I going to be one the things he thinks about, one of his great regrets
that he wants to make amends for as he's got one foot into the afterlife? I
don't know. |
08:16 |
|
AARON:
You have a completely different religious background than the entire country. |
08:47 |
|
JARED:
Wearing a cross in Saudi Arabia, public displays of any religion other than
Islam is frowned upon. So if I was Catholic… AARON:
It can't get you killed though? JARED:
Ah, I don't know. AARON:
You don't normally wear… JARED:
I don't normally wear a cross anyway. The only thing I wear around my neck is
my dog tags. AARON:
Which you are not taking! JARED:
Which I am not taking. You guys will not allow me to wear my dog tags. |
08:54 |
Friends
toast Jared |
AARON:
There is a lot of concern and a lot of hopes for you in what's going to come
up in your trip. I wish you the safest of travels, so here's to you in Saudi! JARED: And I get to ride a camel! |
09:21 |
Guatemala
GVs. Super: |
Music
|
09:41 |
Sami
in mosque |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: Jared's
story is one of many. In Guatemala City, ten-year old Sami Alrahji
Chang is answering the call to prayer at a local mosque.
It's his only connection
to his father. |
09:51 |
|
SAMI:
I go the mosque because I want to learn a bit of Arabic. If I meet my dad one
day, I want to be able to speak to him.
|
10:07 |
Sami interview |
My
father's name is Sulaiman. I don't know his other names, but I would like to
know them. He is from Arabia. I would like to speak to him one day because we
haven't spent too much time together. I think he left for Arabia after I was
born. He told my mum he would come back, but he never returned. |
10:21 |
Photos.
Sulaiman and Mandre |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Sami's father Sulaiman
was studying on a scholarship in the USA. He was part of
a Saudi government program that paid full tuition fees and a living allowance
to students abroad. While
at university, Sulaiman met Guatemalan student Mandre Chang. |
10:50 |
Mandre
driving |
They began a relationship and talked about
getting married. |
11:10 |
|
MANDRE: Our relationship was good, we didn't
have any problems, and suddenly I discovered that I was pregnant. |
11:15 |
Mandre
at home with Sami |
Then he decided to go to Saudi Arabia. He
said that he will travel for two weeks, that he is going to go to visit his
family. |
11:22 |
Photo.
Mandre with newborn Sami/ Stills of Skype calls |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Mandre's pregnancy
was complicated; she felt desperate and alone. Contact with Sulaiman was
intermittent. MANDRE: I consider myself to be a strong woman. |
11:33 |
Mandre
interview |
I don't usually cry. But in that period of time, I cried a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. |
11:46 |
Sami
chops onions |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Sulaiman eventually returned to the States
and acknowledged baby Sami, changing the birth certificate to include his name.
But he told Mandre he didn't want to be in Sami's life. |
11:55 |
|
MANDRE: And he said like, "No, I'm
sorry. I will study in here and you will be doing your life with the
baby." |
12:09 |
Sami
and Mandre cooking |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Mandre has not
heard from Sulaiman since. Without financial support in the US, she returned
to Guatemala to be close to family. But Mandre can't register Sami as a
Guatemalan citizen without Sulaiman's involvement. |
12:15 |
Sami
at home |
MANDRE: Sami is illegal in Guatemala. It was
difficult for me also to register him on school, because they always ask for
his father signature. I have to pay a fine. |
13:32 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Mandre set out to
track down Sulaiman. |
12:45 |
Mandre
on computer looking at blog |
In her search she came cross a blog called
'Saudi Children Left Behind'. It featured the stories of other people
searching for Saudi fathers. The blog was created by Jenniffer Crystal, an
American woman with a story just like Mandre's. They quickly became allies. |
12:48 |
Mandre
and Jenniffer video call on laptop |
MANDRE: "Do you remember how it was
before we start talking?" |
13:10 |
|
JENNIFFER: "Oh my gosh. 10 years ago. In the small town that I
lived in, in Ohio, there were five girls that had a similar situation to what
you and I were in. And I remember thinking at that time, if it's such a
problem in this very, very small community, how bad is it everywhere else?
So, I created the blog. And lo and behold, there were so many people all
over, not only in here in the United States, but we had people that were in
the Philippines and we had people that were in
Australia contacting us after you and I actually kind of got together." |
13:14 |
CU
Blog pages |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Mandre helped
manage the blog, fielding hundreds of messages from women around the world. MANDRE: Mostly US, Philippines, some other
Latin countries. |
13:50 |
Saudi
news reports |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: The blog caused a
sensation in Saudi Arabia, featuring on news reports and talk shows. |
14:02 |
|
Saudi panel member: This problem is not exclusive to Saudis. It
happens to Saudis and non-Saudis. The
sensitivity of this topic in Muslim and Arab cultures is more than in other
cultures. The American women who created this blog know how sensitive the
subject is and therefore created this blog. |
14:16 |
Saudi
GVs |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Saudi Arabia's
strict sharia law makes it all but impossible for students to marry the women
they fall in love with. Government permission is needed to wed foreigners and
only men over 30 are eligible. Non-Muslims are expected to convert to Islam. |
14:38 |
Awasser
website |
The Saudi government has never acknowledged
the large number of abandoned children. But one non-government organisation
called Awasser claims to help them. Mandre reached out to the group and at first they agreed to assist her. |
14:58 |
|
MANDRE: But when I sent all the paperwork,
Sulaiman's signature on the birth certificate, the acknowledgement that he know everything, they suddenly disappear. |
15:16 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Awasser says
they've helped organise the return of 8000 abandoned Saudi children to the
kingdom. We've been unable to verify these claims. |
15:26 |
Saudi
airport |
The number of Saudi student
studying abroad has soared since the government began its scholarship
program. Little has been done to prepare them. |
15:40 |
|
MANDRE:
It's like you are in a room without anything and then you just open
the door and you see all the amazing things. |
15:52 |
Mandre
interview |
Girls do not dress in the US like in Saudi
Arabia, you cannot go to have dinner with a woman in Saudi Arabia, but in the
US you can do it. You can walk freely in the
university or college with women around. And also
classes are mixed. In Saudi Arabia they have schools for men and schools for
women. So it's kind of complicated because in the
other side, women like me or others, they don't know about Saudi culture. |
16:01 |
Jeddah
GVs. Super: |
Music |
16:35 |
Jared
at Saudi airport |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Jared Al-Jasser
Morrison has come to Saudi Arabia to try and find his father. He begins in Jeddah, the gateway to the
Islamic holy cities of mecca and Medina. This
is Jared's first time outside North America. JARED: Good
morning! |
16:57 |
Jared
to Jeddah hotel |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: Tell me about what it's been like for the last 24 hours. |
17:20 |
Jared
on phone with Brietta |
JARED: It's definitely a
culture shock, it's really, pretty awesome. I'm hoping to learn more details
about my family's cultural history and potentially why – what would lead my
father make the decision that he did 45 years ago – and understand that
better through the eyes of an Arab over here because I can only look at it
from the eyes of a Westerner. |
17:23 |
Jared
meets with Saddiq and Samuel |
Jared is invited to talk with religious and
political scholar Saddiq Malki and his American Muslim friend Samuel. Saddiq
lived and studied in the US and understands the cultural conflicts that
confront Saudis in the west. They meet at the traditional home of a renowned
architect. |
17:47 |
|
JARED:
Well I have some questions for you if you don't
mind? SADDIQ: Yes please, the most difficult. |
18:10 |
|
JARED: So my father
was one of the first wave of Saudis that came to the US in the '70s, right. So coming from a country that was obviously at the time –
from my understanding that Saudi Arabia at this time was very, very ultra
conservative; men and women had to be separated. My mother fell in love with
my father, they dated, my mother thought that they were going to progress
into marriage eventually. She wound up pregnant with me, and then he
basically got scared and from what it seems took off back to Saudi Arabia. |
18:14 |
|
SADDIQ: I would say one of every hundred
Saudis who goes to the States has a similar story. Now, the time frame that
this took place, Saudi Arabia, was too conservative to even admit a story
like this. Even though it's happening, even here. JARED: Is it still happening right now? SAMUEL: Yeah, of course. People are human. |
18:51 |
|
JARED: So, what were some reasons that he
may have that caused him fear. Because I know some... |
19:15 |
|
SADDIQ: Probably this man, your father, is
not a bad man. What happened is that he just thought, how can I go back to
Saudi Arabia, a country where people are veiling women, with a lady, probably
she's blonde or something and she's a feminist. And,
you put yourself in his shoes it would be a disaster. |
19:21 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Jared
realises his father would have been ostracised by his family and society had
he married a foreigner and non-Muslim. |
19:44 |
|
JARED:
I can only imagine what it's like coming from a very conservative environment,
that you can have lifelong consequences, not just for yourself, but for other
people. |
19:54 |
Jared
explores the city |
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: Jared begins to explore a land he's only ever dreamed about. |
20:07 |
|
Music
|
20:13 |
|
JARED:
Looking at Arabian culture through Western eyes, it's beautiful. |
20:20 |
|
Music
|
20:24 |
|
JARED: What's in here? |
20:32 |
Jared
in various store |
Music
|
20:34 |
|
JARED: I'm still learning about the different
cultures within this country. You've got the country itself and then each
region has its own flavour. |
20:44 |
Jared
wears shemagh |
It's
definitely a cultural awakening. Now I feel Saudi! |
20:54 |
Riyadh
GVs. Super: |
Music |
21:05 |
Jared
on plane to Riyadh |
BRIETTA
HAG UE, Reporter: In
Riyadh, Jared's finally going to meet a blood relative. He's managed to track
down a first cousin through social media. |
21:19 |
|
JARED:
I'm excited to meet my cousin, I don't know what to expect. I don't
know how well I'll be received. |
21:31 |
Riyadh GVs |
Music
|
21:37 |
|
JARED:
When I talked to him about a month ago and told him I'd be coming here, he
told me do not worry you are one of us. I'm of the young generation, I'm not
of the old generation with old beliefs, |
21:42 |
Jared
in hotel |
I
have young beliefs and new beliefs and I accept everyone. I don't think I've
ever been in a hotel this nice. They have fruit. I think he felt like he
needed to reassure me he wouldn't deny me or shun me or anything. |
21:53 |
|
BRIETTA
HAGUE, Reporter: Jared, now you're going to meet with your cousin, are you
worried you might cause a scandal for your father? |
22:13 |
Jared
interview in hotel |
JARED:
I'm OK with that. I'm okay with that, I'm totally fine with that, that's
something he has to deal with. That is not my
problem, that is not my problem. I'm tired of feeling ashamed. Every child,
no matter what religion they are from, no matter what race they are from,
every child is entitled to a mother and a father. |
22:19 |
Jared
dresses in thobe |
Music
|
22:43 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Jared has asked us
to protect the privacy of the family and asks us not to film the meeting. |
22:50 |
Riyadh,
night GV |
Music |
22:57 |
Riyadh,
day GV |
Okay, Jared. Tell me about that experience
last night. |
23:01 |
Jared
interview |
JARED: It was absolutely
amazing. I met my cousin and he came and
picked me up at the hotel. When he got out and he saw me, he said I looked
like the sands of Arabia run in my veins. And I looked like I'm Bedouin. It
was really just a lifelong dream to be able to
actualise that, and touch and look at this person. |
23:05 |
Photo.
Jared and cousin |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: It must have been really emotional for your cousin to see you, because you
look so much like your father. |
23:30 |
|
JARED: He said I look exactly like him. Not
only like my father, but like the rest of the Al Jasser family. He said when
he saw me that there was absolutely no doubt. |
23:36 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: And did you talk to
your cousin about your quest to find your father? JARED: I did. He said he wasn't sure how to
deal with that. He said it would cause a lot of internal issues with the
family. There's some other very serious internal dynamics, which after
hearing those, I understand the decision that was made a lot more now. I understand a lot more in detail of the
culture of his family. And the sheer terror that my father must have felt
from his family as well as his community. So it
opened up my eyes a lot and I actually started to feel sympathy. Never
thought I would say that. |
23:49 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Wow, Jared. JARED: Never thought I would say that, but
it helps me understand a lot more of the culture and why that decision was
made. |
24:39 |
Young
Saudi men GVs |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: What did he say
about the younger generations of your family? JARED: Totally different, totally different.
Very open-minded. The difference between the old generation and the new
school train of thought, that's more accepting and has been raised with more
of a Western influence. |
24:53 |
Young
Saudi women GVs |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: So
do you feel like you are in the process of being accepted by the younger
members of your family? JARED: Absolutely. Absolutely. |
25:16 |
Men
and women walking. Night |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Jared's cousin
promises to introduce him to his uncle, but nothing eventuates. The younger
generation may be open to change, but Jared senses they are still bound by
the old rules of conservative Islam and preserving family honour. |
25:29 |
Young
women shopping |
JARED: I was hoping to meet my uncle, but
that didn't work out. Sometimes I feel frustrated and despondent that maybe
they're not sure how to deal with it. And they really don't want to, because
they don't want to cause embarrassment to anybody, or rock the boat. |
25:49 |
Jared
with baby camels |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Despite his
disappointment, Jared has found connecting with his Arab identity a deeply
moving experience. |
26:06 |
Jared
drinks camel milk |
JARED: I've made a lot of progress on the goal. My
Journey is not over. My journey has just begun. |
26:16 |
Jared
rides camel |
I
have met my cousin; haven't met my uncle or my father yet. I think it's just
a matter of time. I'm happy that I came here, it's a wonderful life changing
event. |
26:28 |
Jared
interview in desert at dusk |
I
have absolutely found peace. As a matter of fact a
lot of friends have seen the pictures that I've sent and they say I actually
look like I'm at peace. So even though I haven't met my father, just even
being here, sitting here under the sky I feel peace in my heart. |
26:42 |
CARD:
Jared returned later to Saudi Arabia. He met two more family members. But not his father. |
Music
|
27:03 |
Guatemala City GVs |
Music |
27:14 |
Sami
and Mandre visit with Anwar |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: In Guatemala City,
Sami and Mandre have found solace in the local Muslim community. ANWAR:
I have been in contact with Sami since he was a small kid. |
27:21 |
Anwar
interview |
If
his dad wants to recognise him in the future he will
be prepared. Honestly, the son must not suffer because of the father's
mistakes. |
27:32 |
|
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: The director of the
Islamic association Anwar Khader even tried to act as a mediator. |
27:46 |
|
ANWAR: It's been almost six years now, the family won't answer. |
27:532 |
Mandre and Sami walk |
BRIETTA HAGUE, Reporter: Mandre still holds
out hope that one day Sulaiman may respond to her messages. |
28:00 |
|
MANDRE: I don't want Sammy to grow up having
a bad image about his dad. |
28:07 |
Mandre
interview |
I think that he will get into an age that he
can build his own conclusions and have an opinion about his dad. |
28:12 |
Sami
plays squash |
mu |
28:22 |
|
SAMI:
I feel pretty good, because I have my family here who love me: my
grandfather, mum, stepdad and uncles. But I also
feel sad as I still haven't met my dad. It makes me a bit sad. |
28:27 |
Sami
interview |
If
my dad ever watches this, I want to tell him I'd like to meet him some day
and speak to him. That's all. Thank you. |
28:44 |
Credits
[see below] |
|
28:58 |
Out
point |
|
29:24 |
CREDITS:
REPORTER
Brietta Hague
PRODUCER
Essam Al-Ghalib
CAMERA
Timothy Myers
Bruno Federico
FIELD
PRODUCER
Michael Byrne
Bruno Federico
ADDITIONAL
CAMERA
Tom Hancock
EDITOR
Peter O'Donoghue
ASSISTANT
EDITOR
Tom Carr
ARCHIVAL
RESEARCH
Michelle Boukheris
SENIOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Michelle Roberts
PRODUCTION
CO-ORDINATOR
Victoria Allen
DIGITAL
PRODUCER
Matt Henry
SUPERVISING
PRODUCER
Lisa McGregor
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER
Matthew Carney
foreign correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign
©2022
Australian Broadcasting Corporation