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Transcript/ScriptUkrainian Girl – Viral Song
HEADLINE: Ukrainian Girl Singing in Kyiv Bomb Shelter During Russian Attack Now Living in Poland
TEASER: 7-year-old Amelia Anisovych became an instant star on social media video for singing a Disney film song in an underground bunker
PUBLISHED AT: 3/30/2022 at 538p
BYLINE: Myroslava Gongadze
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Warsaw, Poland
VIDEOGRAPHER:
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Tom Turco
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 4:02
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRODUCTION))
[[A Ukrainian girl seen singing in a viral video while in a Kyiv bomb shelter is using her newfound fame to help raise money for her homeland. Seven-year-old Amelia Anisovych melted hearts around the world as she sang the hit Disney song “Let it Go” from the movie “Frozen.” VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze caught up with the young girl and her family in Poland, where they are living as refugees.]]
((MANDATORY COURTESY: Video Marta Smekhova))
((NARRATOR))
When 7-year-old Amelia started singing in the bomb shelter in Kyiv, the crowded and noisy underground room where people were hiding from Russian shelling fell completely silent.
((Nat sound Song) Amelia singing in the shelter).
((NARRATOR))
Filmed and posted by a neighbor named Martha, the video of Amelia singing a song from the Disney film “Frozen” went viral almost instantly.
((END MANDATORY COURTESY))
((Nats, sounds of the birds in the park)
((Amelia Anisovych, Ukrainian Refugee)) ((in Ukrainian))
“I wanted to cheer people up. They liked it a lot, they all applauded, they were giving me high fives.”
((NARRATOR))
Amelia tells me this story in the peaceful park near Poland's capital, where we met with her mother, Lilia, and grandmother, Vira. Feeding the birds at the lake, Amelia recalled to me how she used to feed the ducks in Ukraine. And how when the war started, she often went to the bomb shelter and had to watch her every step because of possible land mines along the way.
Her mother, Lilia, recalled when she decided to leave Kyiv.
((Lilia Anisovych, Mother)) ((in Ukrainian))
“When Amelia started to be afraid to come to the windows. And when we would leave home to go to the shelter, and then back because we would go to the bomb shelter at night, she would ask me at every step, can she take the step and if it is safe. At that point I decided, I realized it is the end, it is the line. If I cross it, and we will stay in Kyiv, she will become psychologically damaged, she could become a child who is afraid of her own shadow.”
((NARRATOR))
Amelia remembers the crowded train ride out of Kyiv.
((Amelia Anisovych, Ukrainian Refugee)) ((in Ukrainian))
“Some people stood up, some people sat down, then we slept on the floor at the train station — me, too, they gave us the soft mattress.”
((NARRATOR))
The family says people treat them well here in Poland. The family of four lives for free in a home outside of Warsaw. Amelia and her 15-year-old brother, Misha, can attend school here. But their mother is hoping they will be able to go home soon.
((Lilia Anisovych, Mother)) ((in Ukrainian))
“I was hoping to come here for a few weeks. Now I understand it could be longer, but I have the capacity to hope it will be only for a few months. I am afraid to imagine it could
be longer. It does not matter how good and safe it is here — I feel foreign, I would like to go home, I would like to see my husband. I am afraid for my family. I really hope that someone will hear my prayers and the prayers of thousands and millions of people, and I will be home soon.”
((NARRATOR))
And Amelia says she feels like she is growing up fast. The child appears unusually composed as she talks about her homeland.
((Amelia Anisovych, Ukrainian Refugee)) ((in Ukrainian))
“We have to speak Ukrainian, not Russian, because our enemy speaks Russian, our land is Ukraine. We have to speak Ukrainian. We have war in Ukraine, Russia is attacking us. I am afraid for my family, my dad is there, my grandfather, grandmother, I am afraid for all of them. Many kids have already died. And I would like to live, very much, and other kids would like to live.”
((NARRATOR))
Amelia’s mother and grandmother are trying to maintain a sense of normality for her and her older brother. Last year, Amelia started going to school in Kyiv. Now a refugee, she resumes her studies in this small town near Warsaw. The family hopes the war will end and they will return soon. For now, little Amelia is using her talent and newfound fame singing at charity concerts around Poland, and she is raising a lot of money to help Ukraine.
((Myroslava Gongadze, VOA News, Warsaw, Poland))
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