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The show airs on 20 December at 7:30 pm with repeats on 21 December
at the same time, 23 December at 5:30 pm, 3 January 2004 at 7:30
pm, 4 January at 4:30 pm.
Samura's aim is to understand the real stories of people living
on the edge of starvation. As famine again threatens millions in
Ethiopia, Samura travels to a small village to see how people live
with chronic hunger on a day-to-day basis and how some manage to
survive.
Samura’s move into the remote village, far away from the range
of the United Nations and NGOs, allows him to spend time with a
number of families. He attempts to survive on the same meagre diet
as the rest of the villagers.
Using a video diary, he tells the story of people like Ato Alemno
and his children, who, against the odds, struggle to survive on
a tenth of the rations they should receive, because of severe shortages
in food aid. He quickly discovers that the daily reality for millions
is a diet ranging from nothing to a handful of weeds.
With 11 million people depending on food aid in Ethiopia from the
World Food Programme (WFP), supplies are running out quickly and
the WFP says that if donors do not further commit, it will run out
of food by June. The film also questions how Africa can expect to
develop when millions are engaged in a daily struggle to survive,
while underlining the kind of support and the different types of
aid needed to make the modernised world take action.
CNN International GM Rena Golden was quoted in an official release
saying, "By continuing to showcase the work of acclaimed journalists
and filmmakers such as Sorious Samura, CNN underlines a commitment
to bring in-depth reporting from all parts of the world to its global
audience. CNN has a history of airing hard-hitting documentaries.
Surviving Hunger looks at one of the most important issues
in the world today, the risk of famine that Africa still faces almost
20 years after images of starvation in Ethiopia first generated
world headlines."
Samura’s previous films include Cry Freetown, which was
made four years ago. It portrayed atrocities committed during Sierra
Leone’s civil war. Samura again put himself in the shoes of those
around him during the filming of Exodus. This looked at the
reality behind the ‘economic migrants’ who walk thousands of miles
from West Africa to try and reach employment and security in Europe.
Last year’s Return to Freetown looked at the plight of child
soldiers in his native Sierra Leone and how their experiences during
the brutal civil war had changed them.
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