Karzai visits local orphanage

Описание: (6 Jan 2002)

1. Various of interim leader Hamed Karzai arriving and being greeted with flowers and confetti
2. Group of orphan boys
3. Karzai greeting children
4. Soldier on roof, pullout to ceremony with Karzai and children.
5. Various of boy singing a lament as two other boys hold a symbolic coffin
6. Karzai
7. Karzai with children
8. Children applauding
9. Interior of hall with Karzai seated
10. Children
11. Karzai speaking
12. UPSOUND (Dari) Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai asking children "Do you get meat once a week?"
13. Various of children
14. Various of Karzai and children
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Karzai
"I am here to see the children and see what I can do for them."
(Question: are you moved?)
Karzai nods
16. Various of Karzai departing
17. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Abdel Habib Samin, orphanage director
"During the years of Taliban rule, we cared for over 800 youngsters, but this number has since decreased as some have been returned to their relatives."
18. Children in truck
19. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Zabreullah, orphan
"My name is Zabreullah, I am 10 years old and I am an orphan."
20. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Fardin, 12-year-old orphan
"I live here at the orphanage, I don't have a mother."
21. Various of children playing

STORYLINE:

Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai on Sunday visited the Alaudin orphanage, Kabul's largest.

He received a big welcome from over 400 boys and girls, aged between two and 12, who showered the interim leader with confetti and presented him flowers.

A young boy sang a poem about the plight of motherless children.

Older children carried a coffin to symbolise their parents' death.

Twenty-three years of civil war have left an unknown number of Afghan children orphaned.

However, many of the children Karzai met on Sunday were not strictly orphans.

Some have one, or even two parents, but they live at the orphanage because their parents are too poor to care for them.

The director of the orphanage, which is run by the ministry of education, said that under Taliban rule, the orphanage had cared for more than 800 youngsters.

But the number had since fallen as some had been returned to their relatives.

Sunday's visit was one of Karzai's first public engagements since being sworn in on 22 December 2001.

At one point during the visit, the prime minister asked the children if they ate meat often.

Some answered yes, but others weren't sure.

Karzai promised them he would make an effort to see that they received meat at least once a week.

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