Médecins Sans Frontières - Eugene: Searching for freedom | Webclip

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF199480

Date taken / Date Recorded 23/06/2017 12:00 AM

Country Greece

Commissioning section MSF-BELGIUM

Photographer / videographer / producer Matthew Cassel

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m46s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 510.29 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Eugene Transcript

00:07
EUGENE

00:11
I’m gay, and I’ve been like this ever since
I knew who I am

01:18
ATHENS, GREECE

00:23
When I talk about the LGBT
community in my country,

00:25
being one of these kinds of persons
is a total risk

00:31
Nigeria is a country where you
don’t have freedom of choice.

00:36
It’s a country where you can’t live your life

00:39
You can’t choose the kind of life you want to live.

00:43
I was harassed, molested, tortured,
so severely, with scars all over me,

00:49
for the reason that I am who I am.

00:54
This has really led me to some kin of hard problems,

00:59
psychological problems, the I am still battling with.

01:04
One of the sad moments I also had was
on the first of October,

01:13
some years back, which happens to be,

01:16
The day my country celebrates her independence.

01:21
I was with the same partner who I was with
before leaving the country,

01:26
we tried expressing ourselves openly.

01:31
Then we got attacked.

01:34
We got attacked by some guys,
and we were beaten like never before.

01:39
It was so severe that I never wish to
experience such a day in my life.

01:48
Leaving the country Nigeria wasn’t an easy task.

01:54
To start another phase of life,
starting from the beginning.

01:58
You left a whole lot of things behind, I’m...

02:11
Sorry about that.

02:15
Hello.
- Let’s go, Eugene.

02:19
I said bye to my two kid brothers
and flew from Nigeria to Turkey.

02:25
After a couple days, I left Turkey to Greece.

02:28
What is karasia, Ahmed?

02:32
Cherries.
-Cherries, it’s not one but many.

02:36
I attend my Greek lessons to allow me to have
a proper interaction with the Greeks.

02:42
Because I believe here, Greece,
the land of Ellada, is my home.

02:46
It’s where I want to live.

02:48
So I should be able to communicate,
have a good relationship

02:50
and rapport with the people of Greece.

02:54
Aegina [island]
- Ae-gi-na.

02:57
And where is Aegina?
- I don’t know.

03:08
For the first time I’m proud to tell people
who I am is in the land of Greece.

03:15
For the first time I feel alive.

03:17
I feel that seed in me has finally come out.

03:21
I’ve finally seen people I can call my own.

03:25
I’ve finally seen people I ca associate with,
I could mingle with.

03:30
People I could share ideas with.

03:33
People I could show love to.

03:37
People I can call my own,

03:40
that I feel welcome when I’m around them.

03:49
Did you ever think to change who you are
because of what you’ve faced?

03:55
The most difficult thing for anyone to do is
to change who you are.

04:02
It’s not easy task, to change who you are.

04:06
I can never change who I am because
I believe I am who I am.

04:10
I can’t live someone else’s life,
I need to live my own life,

04:15
with freedom.

04:20
Eugene’s initial asylum claim
and appeal have been rejected.
If further legal attempts are not
successful, he may face deportation
back to Nigeria.

04:26
Khalil is one of more than 430
people from over 40 countries
treated by the MSF project
Victims of Torture in Athens
since it opened in 2014.

04:32
In Greece and across Europe
today, people who have
experienced torture need protection and rehabilitation
so they can rebuild their lives.

04:38
Filmed, produced and edited by
Matthew Cassel

Médecins Sans Frontières
msf.org

Eugene: Searching for freedom | Webclip | English

Eugene: Searching for freedom | Webclip | English