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CHILDBRIDES IN ETHIOPIA
– BEST DOCUMENTARY
OF THE YEAR 2003
By Torill Svaar
I was thrilled when I knew that I had won
the IAWRT award for
“Best documentary of the
year 2003”. It felt good to get pay-off
after a lot of struggle and hard work to
realize the project. To be
invited to Accra
in Ghana at the meeting in May and to be
present
at the award winning ceremony, was a
memorable event.
n September the same year the documentary
won another international 1. prize:
”Prix International de Television de Geneve”
at the 19th. North/South Media Festival in
Geneva in 2003,
in competition with 30 films
from around the world.
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The documentary has had a great impact on
raising the awareness of early marriage and
has been used as a very effective instrument
for further discussion on the issue in
Ethiopia.
VHS-cassettes of the program have been
distributed and used in different settings:
at ministry levels by the department of
Education in Addis Ababa
in school-classes and at youth conferences
in Ethiopia by NGO’s and UNICEF at
conferences both
in Ethiopia, Kenya and
Norway where the subject of childbrides have
been on the agenda.
It has been shown and discussed by the
Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
at their Synode
in October 2002 where 38
bishops from Ethiopia and overseas were
present (“ we came with a “bomb”
in the video machine”)
The Imams from the muslim’s community in
Ethiopia looked at the film and discussed
the subject
for the first time.
After our first trip to Ethiopia in 2001, we
went back in 2002 to visit the girls and
their families again to see what had
happened since we left. I have just returned
from Ethiopia for the third time in order to
do a follow-up story on early marriage for a
one hour documentary in NRK to be aired in
2005.
I have followed these families during a
period of 4 years and I think I have
collected material to be able to tell a
wonderful story that will give hope for the
future. The awareness process is
progressing. Girls’ rights and women’s role
in the society has become an issue of great
concern both in politics and among ordinary
people living in the countryside.
Thanks to the international awards, I have
got money from different institutions in
Norway to write a book on this important
issue . There is a lot of work still to be
done.
TORILL SVAAR
NRK-TV
www.nrk.no
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