IDP Script ALONE IN THEIR OWN LAND OPEN: PIANO MUSIC WITH SCENES OF DEVASTATION UGLEGORSK OLGA 1-39 I was so afraid. Shelling was striking constantly, without any pauses. Children were so scared. We were hiding in the cellar. // IT was Grads and some other weapons. // My son asked me - “Mummy, will the missile kill us if it falls directly on our house?” 1-59 What could I tell my child on this? // What can I tell my child? OLEG 10-53 - Terrible things happened. The whole city is ruined, all communication lines don’t work, infrastructure is destroyed, there are no schools now, no hospitals there.. BRYCE PERRY International Rescue Committee People’s lives have been destroyed. Hospitals schools have been destroyed. So the end of hostilities is really not the end of this story, it’s really the beginning that people need to wake up and respond to. SOUND UP: shot out car window, driving through Dnep. Soft music. Valeria Huseva: The city was dying. People left it very quickly. The streets that were once crowded and noisy become empty and silent. I almost expected to see tumbleweeds on the streets. // 25-08 I realized there was no reason to sit and wait for further changes. SLATE: Valeria Huseva is a 19-year old Internally Displaced Person (IDP). SLATE: In July 2014, she fled her home in the eastern city of Lugansk because of intense fighting. SLATE: For months she has been moving from place to place. SLATE: Today, she moves into a new home in the city of Dnipropetrovsk. Valeria Huseva: Off camera: what do you think? Wow! I am not able to say a word. It is very beautiful here. Valeria Huseva: I was pregnant. I couldn’t stay in the city. It was too dangerous for a baby. // The shelling was too heavy. // 3-53 It was scary because of shelling, a missile struck the third house from mine. I saw dead people on the ground. SOUND UP FIGHTING: SINCE THE WAR IN UKRAINE BEGAN IN 2014, OVER ONE MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISPLACED FROM THEIR HOMES. WHILE THE CEASE FIRE CONTINUES, THE COUNTRY IS STRUGGLING TO FIND A WAY TO HOUSE AND FEED THEM. Tamila Tasheva 31-40 The situation with IDPs is a huge problem for Ukraine and for Ukrainians. 31-47 We have never imagined that we would face a war in Ukraine and that part of our country would be taken away. Sound up KIEV: SLATE: Many have fled to Kiev, where they live in communal housing. OLEG AND OLGA ABAKUMOV 14-30 We arrived here on the 4th of February. Our friends told us about this place. Volunteers helped us to settle down in this house. Now we live here. We are 50 people from Uglegorsk here, 18 children, trying to stick together in Kiev. SOUND UP CRUSHED TRUCK BEING TOWED: music, devastation montage: Debaltseve SLATE: While many have fled the fighting, some decided to stay. SLATE: In Debaltseve, mostly destroyed by fighting in early 2015, some are trying to rebuild their lives. GUY FILLING UP GAS BOTTLE We hope to stay here. We were born here, christened here. So we hope to stay. Oleg Mikhaylov: Ten hits directly on this house and twelve more around it. // Here just where you were standing, there was a hit. // There was a fire here and the aluminum melted and dripped down. It made an image of an old man with a walking stick. And Madonna with a baby. How is this possible? SLATE: For the last month and a half, Oleg Mikhaylov and his family have lived in their basement. Today they are finally moving back into their apartment. Oleg Mikhaylov: Three people slept in this room. The kid, me and my wife. We just used our imagination to figure out what to cook with the food we had. Macaroni and porridge and fish soup from canned fish. // If we were pessimistic, it would be too hard to survive. So we try to support each other. // Also, you need to be an example for the child and the old people and for women. Me: When are they moving back into the apartment? Oleg Mikhaylov: Today, right now we are busy bringing things back to the apartment. Now we are dreaming of basic things. Just to take a shower and to bring ourselves back to normal. To shave off this beard. Sound up back to Kiev and exterior of train station. SLATE: While the numbers have dropped, newly displaced people arrive every day the Kiev train station. SLATE: Many often head to the city’s largest volunteer center for free food and clothing. Arseniy Finberg: This center was opened half a year ago. And since that time through our center have passed through more than 25000 IDPs and more than 150 daily bringing stuff daily for IDPs. Lady bringing stuff: We help because there are people in need. Lady getting child’s clothes. Everything we had. We had our flat. We had good life. But now we don’t have nothing. We are nothing. Valeria Huseva (showing tattoo): This is Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian writer. // Yes, I made the tattoo, my friends told me that I shouldn’t have done it, that I will be beaten for it. // Even my boyfriend Zhenya’s father, who was very pro- Ukrainian person asked me: “Do you understand that you can be killed because of this tattoo?” My sister lived in Lugansk with her husband, they were very pro-Russian people. // They thought Ukrainians are all fascists. All that propaganda was very successful in their case. // I didn’t even speak with them for some time, until they went to Russia. // They didn’t like Ukraine, they wanted to live in Russia. SLATE: Lera now lives in the home of the city’s Pro-Russian politician Oleg Tsarov. SLATE: An avowed separatist, Tsarov was beaten by a pro-Ukrainian mob in 2014 and fled to Russia. SLATE: Six other displaced families currently live on the property as well. Valeria Huseva (walking out onto pier) Of course, I hope to come back home but only when the war is over. // When peace comes. // I think it’s a long time to wait. // In the next few months, nothing will change. // I remember how it was there with all that blood. I can’t take my little baby to that place. ////END