Eva Gilliam - Videojournalist

South Africa: Students stage “sleep-in” to get basic infrastructure in South Africa’s Schools

2011-07-16T03:09:00.000-07:00

Students stage “sleep-in” to get basic infrastructure in South Africa’s Schools

Nearly 100 High School students, parents and education activists are holding what they are calling a “sleep-in” outside of the South African parliament. They are calling on the Minister of Basic Education to adopt a Norms and Standards protocol for the country’s schools. Students say the overwhelming lack of basic infrastructure, including toilets, electricity and running water, is unacceptable. And they are willing to sleep on parliament’s doorstep until they get results.

RFI - 14 July 2011

Will the next Einstein be African?

2011-06-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Could Africa be the home of the next Albert Einstein?

That’s certainly the belief of the founders of Next Einstein Initiative at the African Institute for Maths and Science in South Africa.

The initiative aims to accelerate higher education in math and science across Africa by opening centres of excellence for the continent's untapped bright youth.

The Next Einstein Initiative is the third report in EuroNews' weekly Learning World Programme:

Learning World: Educating Tomorrow's Scientists.

Broadcast March, 2011.

Lesotho Cash Grants: A little goes a long way

2011-06-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

Article and Video for UNICEF Lesotho (this dates back a bit, but I never posted it due to it's length, but now I will start to put up some of my longer work):

Lesotho cash-grants pilot programme aims to ensure vulnerable children’s rights

By Clelia Barbadoro and Eva Gilliam

In the run-up to 20 November 2009, the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF is featuring a series of stories about this landmark international agreement on the basic human rights of all children – including progress made and challenges that remain.
Here is one of those stories.

LEBAKENG, Lesotho, 18 November 2009 – Mapalesa Sebatanyane, 73, is the primary caregiver for her four grandchildren, but she struggles to feed them with the small income she earns raising chickens in this remote village.

Recently, help arrived for Ms. Sebatanyane in the form of cash grants delivered by helicopter from the Child Grants Programme, an initiative of the Government of Lesotho, the European Union (EU) and UNICEF.

The right to social protection
The programme is now several months into its initial pilot phase. It aims to improve the well-being of vulnerable children – including those who have been affected by HIV and AIDS, and those who live in families struggling with poverty, food insecurity, undernutrition and lack of access to essential services.

Besides ensuring every child’s right to have such basic needs met, the Convention on the Rights of the Child states, in Article 29, that all children – either through their guardians or directly – have the right to help from the government if they are poor or in need.

“The future of Lesotho depends on how you treat your children,” EU Ambassador to Lesotho Peter Christiansen said at an October ceremony to launch the Child Grants Programme.

Endemic poverty
Half of the population of Lesotho lives below the poverty line, and the country has the world’s third-highest rate of HIV prevalence.

“We’ve had a very high maternal and infant mortality rate in this area and others that we have chosen to receive the grant,” said Lesotho’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Mphu Ramatlapeng.

“We have children looking after families and people not looking after their health,” he added, referring to households in which children as young as 12 years of age care for younger siblings. “These are some of the factors that have contributed to destitution generally in these areas.”

Around 950 households – comprising over 2,370 orphans and vulnerable children – are currently benefiting from the small quarterly grants. This monetary assistance is gradually being complemented by other services, such as World Food Programme assistance and psychosocial support for families and children affected by HIV.

Along with large households like Ms. Sebatanyane’s that are unable to make ends meet on the income of a single provider, many child-headed households are beneficiaries of the grants programme.

The face of need
Mpolokeng, an 18-year-old girl, and Sello, an 18-year-old boy, come from different areas but have much in common. Both lost their parents; both are heading their households and struggling to make ends meet; and both were waiting to receive their cash grants last month in Semonkong, central Lesotho.

“My father was a very strong man,” Mpolokeng recalled with a smile. “I used to be so happy every time he came home from the mines [in South Africa], because he used to bring us fresh apples, sweet potatoes and gifts.

“But over time,” she added, “he started getting sick and finally came home for good, to die. Then my mother got sick and I had to take care of her and my siblings, and had to drop out of school.”

Sello’s father also worked in the mines until he, too, became ill and died. “I miss him,” said Sello. “When he died, my mother followed, so we used some of our cattle for the funerals. I had to take care of the remaining cattle and of my siblings.”

Children confront triple threat
Mpolokeng and Sello are just two of thousands of Basotho children confronted with enormous odds. The triple threat of poverty, HIV and AIDS, and food insecurity has dealt a serious blow to child survival, development and protection in Lesotho.

More than 160,000 children are orphans, robbed of the protective and nurturing role of their mothers and fathers. Of these, 110,000 are estimated to have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Despite the challenges they face, Mpolokeng and Sello are astoundingly resilient. Both have hopes and dreams for the future and were excited at the possibilities offered by the cash grants they were about to receive.

“My greatest wish is to go back to school, so that one day I can become a teacher and help other children learn and grow,” said Mpolokeng. “The money I will receive today will help me to buy myself a uniform so that next year, I can enrol in school again.”

Sello is following his father’s legacy to make sure his siblings have a better future. He plans to use the money to replenish his stock of cattle.

Successful pilot programme
The disbursement in Semonkong marked the first complete payment covering all three communities in the cash-grants pilot programme: Matelile (Mafeteng district), Lebakeng (Qacha’s Nek district) and Semonkong (Maseru district).

Lesotho’s Deputy Principal Secretary of Health and Social Welfare, Moliehi Khabele, explained that the pilot phase is meant to develop and test effective systems for targeting, enrolment, payment to beneficiaries, monitoring, procurement and financial management – as well as training of stakeholders, public awareness and community involvement.

The pilot programme will be refined for a phased rollout in other districts of the country by 2011. In the longer term, the government plans to absorb the programme into its national budget.

“Cash transfers have the greatest impact when combined with other social services such as health, nutrition, education and protection,” said UNICEF Representative in Lesotho Dr. Ahmed Magan. “The grants are part of a greater child-sensitive social protection programme that will benefit entire families.”

25,000 Ivoirian Refugees in Liberia - Food and Water Scarce

2011-01-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

Nine year-old Sanata was home alone when chaos erupted in her village on the western border of Ivory Cost and Liberia. Sanata’s parents were working in the fields and her brothers and sisters were out when the neighbours decided to run from the village and across the Nior river into Liberia – a long days walk under a baking sun.

Following the elections in Ivory Coast last November, many villages like Sanata’s experienced confusion, and fear that there would be violence when the two presidential candidates both claimed legitimate victory in early December.

Many Iviorians crossed into Liberia as early as 28 November – some seeing continued stalemate and growing aggression in the capital of Abidjan as the dangerous next step to another civil war.

To date UNHCR has registered Ivoirian 25,088 refugees in Liberia. A report from the Liberian-Ivoirian border For UNICEF (January 2011).

Children the Key to Adult Literacy in Mozambique

2011-01-18T00:44:00.000-08:00

The legacy of colonization left Mozambique with a staggering 97% illiteracy after independence in 1975.

Since then, the government has managed to reduce illiteracy to just under 50% - but the lack of basic reading, writing and arithmetic for much of the population remains an immense challenge for the country's development.

An innovative programme working with children, however, is turning that around.

A UNESCO Initiative that came about in 2003, the Government has taken the reigns and is now rolling out the programme nationally. Children are taking the lead, teaching their parents a thing or two.

For: EuroNews: Learning World (Nov/Dec 2011)

Republic of Congo - Refugees from DRC

2010-03-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

In February 2010, UNICEF brought me to the north of Republic of Congo, to report on the situation of refugees. Here are some of the reports from that trip.

Republic of Congo - Refugees from DRC flood Likouala

The province of Likouala in northern Republic of Congo, is home yet again to tens of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates so far that 117,000 thousand refugees have crossed the Ubangi River from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Betou and Impfondo districts in the north of the Republic of Congo.

Many of these refugees were previously in the Republic of Congo for as long as 10 years. They fled the violence of the DRC’s Civil war and continued instability until DRC’s elections in 2006. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees officially completely their repatriation to DRC in 2008.

But Last October, clashes between the Boba and Lobala ethnic groups over access to farming and fishing rights in the area of Dongo in the DRC has again left many dead, wounded and tens of thousands running back to safety in the Republic of Congo.

While the DRC Government says it is safe to return home, the refugees are doubtful. Yet, living as a Refugee in Republic of Congo, is rife with it’s own challenges.

You can watch the entire FOCUS programme on this subject on France24
In English:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100302-life-in-limbo-for-DRC-refugees
In French:
http://www.france24.com/fr/20100302-focus-congo-la-crise-des-refugies-congolais-kinshasa-brazzaville-afrique

Video Produced for France 24:

Video Produced for UNICEF on the situation of education for refugee children in Likouala:

2009-12-02T22:42:00.000-08:00

On World AIDS Day, MSF is asking nine drug companies to listen to the millions without access to adequate AIDS treatment.

Gilliam 2009

2009-11-18T04:38:00.000-08:00

UNICEF celebrates 20 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Listen to 20 kids tell us their rights in Cape Town, South Africa!

Gilliam/UNICEF 2009

Kinshasa Music

2009-11-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

In Kinshasa I met up with Mark Nunn and Joe Herrmann recording Ocean de la Clef, a band of young super-talented Kinois, working on a CD addressing various social issues for Christian AID. We collaborated for an afternoon and this is what we came up with. The song is SAVE, and talks about using condoms, but also about general access to medical care to know your status, take your meds and general watch out for yourself. Enjoy the music!

Ireland's Dustin the Turkey visits South Africa

2009-11-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

Household name Dustin the Turkey visited South Africa from Ireland to investigate Early Childhood Development in KwaZuluNatal. The ECD programme of the LETCEE NGO is being used as a best model practice by UNICEF. This was good fun - the kids loved Dustin and KwazuluNatal is breathtaking!

A piece for UNICEF website and UNIFEED.

Cameroon - Silent Emergency

2009-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

May 2009 trip to Cameroon with UNICEF, a silent emergency in Eastern Cameroon.

On the surface, the Refugee situation in Eastern Cameroon looks like a success. Since 2002, over 60,000 Central African Refugees have been integrated into Cameroonian communities. There are no refugee camps, and there is a peaceful co-existence between Cameroonian and Central African. These Central African Refugees are fleeing kidnappings and killings by groups of armed men and bandits from various Central African Republic ex-military groups as well as rebels fleeing the Chadian conflict to the North.

Click here to Watch the Video on YOUTUBE.

Ivory Coast May 2009

2009-07-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

In May I went to Ivory Coast with UNICEF to cover the Tetanus Vaccination Campaign"

Sabra Seydou arrived at the Abobo Kennedy clinic in Abidjan with only a few minutes to spare before giving birth. This is her second visit to the Abobo Kennedy clinic in Abidjan since the beginning of her pregnancy. Extreme poverty has meant Sabra could not afford pre-natal tests or consultations. She was however able to have her first vaccination against tetanus, provided free by the Ivoirian government. Her second vaccination, that which would provide immunity against the deadly bacteria for her self and her unborn child, was scheduled for next week.....

Watch Video on YOUTUBE: Tetanus - Ivory Coast

Brazilian Dance/Martial Art Capoeira Empowering SA Youth

2009-05-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Twice a week in some of the more disadvantaged townships around Cape Town, kids between the ages of 8 and 12 are learning Capoeira. The dance-martial art from Brazil, which has its roots in African Slavery, is coming back to the continent and is serving as a source of development, discipline and self-expression for some of South Africa’s youth.

For AP Television - Horizons

New Homes for African Penguins

2009-03-31T00:50:00.000-07:00

The African penguin, also called the jackass because of its bray, is the only one to inhabit the African continent. It has shorter feathers than the Antarctic birds and is just 50 centimeters (20 inches) high.

Numbers curious creatures have plummeted from around 3 million in the 1930s to just 120,000 because of overfishing and pollution. Some experts fear that the species will become extinct in as little as 11 years.

Recently 200 specially designed nesting boxes big enough to house a happy family and protect the eggs and fledgling chicks from predators, and above all, from the sweltering African sun.

Video by Eva Gilliam for AP (click on link below)

Park rangers build homes for penguins facing extinction

Organic Gardening in Cape Town's Townships

2009-03-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Harvest of Hope is a project of NGO Abalimi Bezekhaya, meaning “Farmers of Home” in Xhosa. Abalimi is an urban agriculture and environmental action association operating in the poor townships of Philippi, Khayelitsha, Nyanga and surrounding areas on the Cape Flats near Cape Town, South Africa. Working with over 2000 individual member gardeners, Abalimi promotes self-sustainability and small, organic gardening practices.

Zimbabwean Playwright Jonathan Nkala Tells His Story

2009-01-21T01:32:00.000-08:00

The World (radio): Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans illegally cross the border into South Africa searching for a better future. But they don't always find one. Many wind up homeless and jobless. Jonathan Nkala has written a play about his experience.

(radio) http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/23804

Proteas - Nature & Industry in SA

2008-12-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

The Cape floral kingdom at the tip of South Africa contains the highest known concentration of plant species in the world. Table Mountain itself, in the center of Cape Town, has over 2200 plant species, more that the entire United Kingdom. The region was given international recognition as South Africa's sixth UN World Heritage site in June last year.

The protea is one of the dominant species in this kingdom, and nearly 400 of the world’s 1200 protea species are found here. According to the South African Protea Producers and Exporters (SAPPEX), the protea is a 40 million USD a year industry, with approximately 2000 hectares of land dedicated to protea farming.

OON...

Birding in Limpopo, South Africa

2008-12-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

Limpopo Province in the north of South Africa is an ideal destination for bird watching at all levels. Of the 950 species of birds in South Africa, the Greater Limpopo Area boasts over 600, of which 420 are resident. BirdLife South Africa is working with local residents of the area towards conservation of the diverse habitats through the development of bird routes and professional bird guides. This work aims to promote Limpopo as the Bird Paradise it is, and through conservation, support the local economy. With voiceover. Provided to AP Horizons.

Cholera on the South Africa-Zimbabwe Border

2008-12-07T01:44:00.000-08:00

Cholera is spreading in Zimbabwe due to a breakdown in infrastructure - no water, to medical care. The U.N. humanitarian affairs office said 12,546 people (with over 600 deaths) were thought to be infected with the disease, which under normal circumstances is preventable and treatable. The capital Harare is the worst affected.

On the border of South Africa and Zimbabwe, cholera has hit over 400 people, mostly refugees fleeing hunger in Zimbabwe, hoping to find a little something - food, money - in South Africa to bring back home to their families.

(video) http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=94893&videoChannel=1

Footage: Eva Gilliam

Mozambicans return home after Xenophobic attacks in South Africa - 2008

2008-11-18T04:03:00.000-08:00

May 2008 saw violent xenophobic attacks in South Africa that had over 20,000 Mozambicans return home.

Mozambicans return home after xenophobic attacks in SA

(Radio) http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/18411

Cuba: African angles to Cuban stories

2008-11-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

I went to Cuba twice in 2008 to look at the Afro-Cuban connection. Here are two stories:

Many Africans go to Cuba to study medicine. Given Cuba's excellent reputation in Public Health and the socialist altruism to assist developing nations, it is no surprise to find the Cuban government sponsoring thousands of African medical students (natural sound).
Produced for Reuters Africa, 02/2008.

The Yoruba religion has its origins in West Africa. Arriving with the slaves to Cuba during the slave trade, the religion has take a strong hold in Cuba, mixing with colonial Catholicism. Known as Santeria, nearly 80% of Cubans practice the religion (natural sound).
Produced for Reuters Africa, September 2008.

DRC - 2007/2008

2008-11-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

I went to DRC several times since the 2006 elections. Here are a few of my favourites. Some of these pieces have natural sound, while others I have edited with voiceover.

Demobilized militia in Bunia are now successful fishermen thanks to a project of UNDP (with voiceover).

Artisanal gold miners in the village of Tindika can't dig much deeper. Industrial miners Kilo Gold are prospecting the area and say there is plenty of gold to justify moving in (with voiceover).

The Okapi is endemic to DRC, and the special animal serves as a Flagship for conservation of the World's second largest rainforest after the Amazon (with voiceover).

Known throughout Africa and the world for its ndombolo and soukous music, the DRC music scene showed different colours by hosting its first International Jazz Festival. Musicians from South Africa, the United States and Belgium traveled to Kinshasa to play with talented locals (natural sound only).

Nigerian Elections - April 2007

2008-11-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

In April 2007 I went to Nigeria for the elections with a small HDV cam and my 12-inch laptop, and was able to capture several stories related to the elections for Reuters.

(Video 1) Stakeholders Democracy Network, an NGO based in Port Harcourt, set up a blog (including video) for Nigerian voters to speak out about voter fraud and discuss concerns leading up to election day.

(Video 2) Young Rappers in Port Harcourt talk about politics, and their hopes for the Nigerian elections.

Again - this is video with only natural sound, no voiceover.

Democratic Republic of Congo - Elections - 2006

2008-11-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

My Coverage in DRC as a reporter began in July 2006 when camerawoman Jo Higgs and I went up to Bukavu and Goma to cover the 1st round of elections. We returned in October 2006 for the second round, traveling to Lubumbashi and Kalemie. Nearly 30 stories were filed in the 2 months we spent in DRC (TV and Print) on politics, humanitarian and environmental topics.

Please note that there are no voice overs for these pieces as the news agency preferred a script without voice.

Welcome to my Show Reel.

2008-11-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

This blogspot is meant to serve as a gallery to my work, particularly my work as a Videojournalist in Africa and Cuba, as well as give interested parties an idea of my writing and radio work.

It will be updated regularly, so please come check out the latest.