At least 3,700 children in West Africa have lost one or both parents to Ebola since the outbreak began this summer, according to UNICEF estimates. AP followed three siblings orphaned in Monrovia, struggling to get by and to stay together. (Oct. 9)
SHOTLIST:
AP Television – AP Clients only
Monrovia, Liberia – 28 September 2014
1. Close shot of Cooper children walking into their one bedroomed home, a shack in a poor neighbourhood of Monrovia pushed open
2. Close shot of mosquito net in room
3. Close of cooking pan
4. Tight shot of Promise and Benson Cooper
5. All three children walk out of house
6. Tight shot of ‘Entrance & Waiting Room’ sign at a private medical clinic
7. Close shot of Promise standing in doorway
8. Mid shot of Promise talking to community worker Kanyean Molton Farley, pan over to her brothers
9. Close shot of lock on their door
10.Tight shot of Benson and Emmanuel, Jr.
11. SOUNDBITE: (Liberian English – Text Over) Promise Cooper, Orphaned by Ebola
“If I go somewhere they spray the chair, they wash it and spray it before they’ll sit on it. Nobody will take our money. We stay here by ourselves.”
AP Television – AP Clients only
Monrovia, Liberia – 4 October 2014
12. Kanyean Molton Farley walking towards children during one of his daily visits
13. Farley handing Promise a bag of toiletries
14. Farley talking to Coopers and neighbor’s kids
15. SOUNDBITE: (Liberian English, Text Over) Kanyean Molton Farley, Community Leader
“Each time before I go to work, I come here, I speak to them, I check on them.”
16. Shots of Farley paying for supplies for the Coopers
AP Television – AP Clients Only
Unification Town, near Monrovia airport – 3 October 2014
17. Mid of children playing in a government orphanage supported by UNICEF and Save The Children which was until a few days ago quarantined for 21 days after one child contracted Ebola
AP Television – AP Clients Only
Monrovia, Liberia – 29 September 2014
18. Shot of busy Monrovia street
19. Young street hawker walks amidst traffic, trying to sell something
AP Television – AP Clients Only
Monrovia, Liberia – 3 October 2014
20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Carolyn Miles, President & CEO, Save The Children:
“This issue for children whose parents have died, so orphans from Ebola, is growing really quickly, really quickly.”
AP Television – AP Clients Only
Monrovia, Liberia – 28 September 2014
21. Mid shot of Promise talking to community worker Kanyean Molton Farley, pan over to her brothers
AP Television – AP Clients Only
Monrovia, Liberia – 3 October 2014
22. Shots of orphans in a government orphanage supported by UNICEF and Save the Children
23. Orphan on bicycle
24. Orphans playing football
VOICE-OVER SCRIPT
FOR THE COOPER CHILDREN…16-YEAR-OLD PROMISE, 15-YEAR-OLD BENSON AND 11-YEAR-OLD EMMANUEL, JR… THIS SMALL SHACK IN MONROVIA – AND EACH OTHER — IS ABOUT ALL THEY HAVE LEFT.
BOTH PARENTS DIED THIS SUMMER FROM THE EBOLA VIRUS, AS DID THEIR BABY BROTHER.
ANOTHER SIBLING ENTERED AN EBOLA TREATMENT CENTER… THEY HAVE NO IDEA IF SHE’S STILL ALIVE.
DESPITE TAKING CARE OF HER DYING PARENTS, PROMISE NEVER GOT SICK AND VOWED SHE WOULD KEEP WHAT WAS LEFT OF HER FAMILY TOGETHER.
AND SHE’S DONE IT ALONE. AS WORD OF HER PARENTS AND SIBLINGS’ FATE GOT AROUND, NO ONE – NOT EVEN HER GRANDPARENTS – CAME BY TO CHECK ON THE KIDS.
FRIGHTENED NEIGHBORS have kept their children away… SOME EVEN TAKE LONGER ROUTES TO THE WELL TO AVOID PASSING BY THEIR HOME.
SOUNDBITE: (Liberian English) Promise Cooper, Orphaned by Ebola
“If I go somewhere they spray the chair, they wash it and spray it before they’ll sit on it. Nobody will take our money. We stay here by ourselves.”
BUT THEY DO GET DAILY VISITS FROM ONE MAN… COMMUNITY LEADER AND FATHER OF THREE KANYEAN MOLTON FARLEY.
THE 39-YEAR-OLD HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCHER SPENDS MOST OF HIS NON-WORKING HOURS HELPING THE COOPERS AND OTHER CHILDREN WHO’VE BEEN ORPHANED – AND ABANDONED – BY EBOLA.
SOUNDBITE: (Liberian English) Kanyean Molton Farley, Community Leader
“Each time before I go to work, I come here, I speak to them, I check on them.”
AND BUYS ESSENTIALS TO KEEP THEM GOING WHEN OTHERS WILL NOT…
FOLEY SAYS AT LEAST 28 CHILDREN IN THIS SMALL neighborhood ARE PARENTLESS AND LIVING ALONE SINCE EBOLA BEGAN RAVAGING FAMILIES HERE IN JULY.
IN MOST CASES, TEENAGERS ARE NOW RAISING THEIR SIBLINGS AMID AN OVERWHELMED SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM.
SOUNDBITE: (English) Carolyn Miles, President & CEO, Save The Children
“This issue for children whose parents have died, so orphans from Ebola, is growing quickly. Really quickly.”
IN FACT, PROMISE AND HER SIBLINGS ARE JUST A TINY FRACTION OF A GROWING GENERATIONAL EPIDEMIC…
ACCORDING TO UNICEF ESTIMATES, AT LEAST 3,700 CHILDREN IN GUINEA, LIBERIA AND SIERRA LEONE HAVE LOST ONE OR BOTH PARENTS TO EBOLA… A NUMBER EXPECTED TO DOUBLE BY MID OCTOBER.
KELLY DASCHLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS.
