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Transcript/ScriptPress Freedom Displaced Reporter
HEADLINE: Journalism ‘More Than Just a Job’ for Displaced Reporter
TEASER: After fleeing bombing in her hometown, Nawroz Rasho reports on life in a Syrian camp that has been her home for four years
PUBLISHED AT: 6/15/2022 at 630PM HFR World Refugee Day June 20 (House can use earlier if it fits their schedules better)
BYLINE: Sirwan Kajjo
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington/Shahba, Syria
VIDEOGRAPHER: Hamza Youssef
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT WRITER: Sirwan Kajjo
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, MPage
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original interviews & footage, wires Mandatory Skype
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 2:46
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: For VOA Press Freedom. For World Refugee Day June 20
ENGLISH WEBDESK: PLEASE HOLD THIS VIDEO FOR RELEASE ON PRESS FREEDOM PAGE SATURDAY MORNING. IT ACCOMPANIES WEB ARTICLE SLUG PRESS FREEDOM DISPLACED REPORTER, ALSO PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY EVENING.
For video editor, raw footage here//New Link: https://app.frame.io/projects/71f8cdc5-4d41-4b96-b8a0-1f79920f11f8/d5a56b4c-8261-4148-b9ba-90224c1daa1a ))
((INTRO))
[[A Syrian reporter and VOA contributor forced to flee bombing attacks in her home city now reports on life in the displacement camp she calls home. VOA’s Sirwan Kajjo has more.]]
((NARRATOR))
For the past four years, journalist Nawroz Rasho has called this camp in the Shahba region of northern Syria home.
When Turkish tanks rolled into her home city of Afrin in 2018, the journalist and her family had no choice but to join thousands of others fleeing to safety.
Her home had been hit, and her father was killed in the shelling.
Now Rasho lives in a camp for people displaced by the fighting.
((For Radio: Nawroz Rasho is a journalist and internally displaced person))
((Mandatory Courtesy: Skype))
((Nawroz Rasho, Journalist)) ((Female in Kurdish))
“My father’s death made me realize even more how important journalism is. It made me understand how journalists, under these circumstances, become part of the story. They can be victims too. I realized that journalism, for people like myself, is more than just a job.”
((NARRATOR))
Rasho, who is 31, spends her days reporting on the lives of those around her for VOA and other news outlets. With a shared experience, her new neighbors open up to her.
((For Radio: Nawroz Rasho says her work plays an important role))
((Mandatory courtesy: Skype))
((Nawroz Rasho, Journalist)) ((Female in Kurdish))
“One of the things that made me decide to stay at the camp and resume my journalism was that I myself experienced the same difficulties that other displaced people did. I saw that there were still many stories that needed to be told and shared with the world.”
((NARRATOR))
The more she reports, the more Rasho sees the impact her work has on the lives of others.
In 2019 she reported on a man left with permanent injuries from a bomb blast, who had learned to play the drums. When others heard his story, they encouraged him to perform in the camp.
But reporting as a displaced person is not without challenges. Journalists like Rasho often lack space or adequate equipment.
Access to information and the ability to communicate with the outside world are essential for displaced people globally, says the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
((For radio: Chris Boian is a spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR))
((Mandatory courtesy: Skype))
((Chris Boian, UNHCR Spokesperson)) ((Male in English))
“I think that really there is nothing that speaks to the elemental truth of the refugee story more powerfully than the voice of one who has lived that story and survived to tell it.”
((NARRATOR))
Over 100 million people are displaced globally, the UNHCR says, including 5,000 at Rasho’s camp.
Boian says the UNHCR and its partners provide help and protection to those people and give them the opportunity to tell their own stories.
Rasho, being that voice for others displaced by conflict is what gives her the determination to keep going.
((Sirwan Kajjo, VOA News))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington/Shahba, Syria
Embargo DateJune 15, 2022 17:21 EDT
Byline((Sirwan Kajjo, VOA News))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
