all Eigendreh

Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Jonas Gerding
00:17 Neema Avangisivavi | Factory manager, Virunga Origins
01:55 Germaine Muyisa | Cocoa farmer
03:02 Viko Kombi | Farmer’s cooperative manager
03:28 Neema Avangisivavi | Factory manager, Virunga Origins

Script:

((inside chocolate production plant: Neema Avangisivavi inspecting site, wearing mask and kitchen hat, chocolate is flowing in machines, being filled into forms))  
00:00
 Dark chocolate from the Democratic Republic of Congo - It’s a sweet treat that supports local livelihoods. Neema Avangisivavi is a manager at Virunga Origins, the DRC’s first modern chocolate factory. ((other ladies, shelves etc.)) 

00:15 
SOT Neema Avangisivavi  – factory manager Virunga Origins EN  
We profit from our African resources and from what we grow. We add value to our crops by transforming them into finished products. All the profits stay in Africa - and we reap the full benefits. 

00:34 
The chocolate factory is located next to the dense Congolese rainforest, at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains and on the border to Uganda. Farmers cultivate cocoa, the basis for chocolate, on this fertile land. But armed conflict in the region has made farming dangerous. 

((drone shot of chocolate production site among dense forest, mountain. Neema outside of factory sorting fruit of chocolate beans with bare hands, together with colleague))   

00:53 
Avangisivavi is involved in all stages of chocolate production and helps sort the cocoa beans.  She’s witnessed the instability caused by the insurgents first hand:  

When she started working here 3 years ago, a local Islamist militia, set up base in the woods and terrorised nearby villages. 

01:15 
SOT Neema Avangisivavi – factory manager Virunga Origins EN 
It was horrific. Some villages were completely abandoned. More than half of the population were massacred and the rest fled to neighbouring towns. 

01:38 
Cocoa is a blessing and a curse. The armed groups steal and sell the crop to fund their activities, killing farmers and forcing others to work for them.  

((cacao hanging on fruits, dense wood, Germaine Muyisa cutting off cocao, carrying it through the woods))  

01:47 
Germaine Muyisa was forced to abandon her plantation because she was afraid of being killed. 

01:54 
SOT Germaine Muyisa  – cocoa farmer EN 
Going to the field was really complicated, almost impossible. If you heard a noise, you’d be afraid it might be a rebel and run away. It was really unsafe, so we were barely making a living.   

((Germaine brings cocoa to bucket, where colleague is waiting. She starts chopping cacao into pieces to pour out the fruit)) 

02:11 
Germaine Muyisa is happy she can farm cocoa again. Security has improved here since the Congolese and Ugandan armies joined forces to push back the militias.  

02:23 
SOT  Germaine Muyisa  – cocoa farmer EN 
Cocoa brings so many benefits. I am happy to be able to provide food and school fees for my children. All this is thanks to cocoa. If my mother needs clothes, I’ll buy them for her. And if she falls ill, I pay for her treatment. 

((outside of chocolate factory: local farmers bring cocao to factory site, they weigh cocao and get paid))  

02:43 
This is one of the few areas in eastern DRC where the army has managed to regain control from insurgents.  

02:50 
Viko Kombi is a manager at the farmer’s cooperative – he says the improved security means more than just prosperity for the farmers.  

02:59 
SOT Viko ((Tembo)) Kombi  – manager at farmer’s cooperative ((he is not the president of whole cooperative but one of their departments))  EN 
If we spread businesses like this throughout the area, young people will have jobs. Therefore, they will not join armed groups. But there are so many of them that don’t have jobs.  

 ((inside of chocolate factory: workers take gorrilla shaped chocolat to a table where they are inspected by Neema // alternative: images outside of factory, Neema in interaction with cocao farmers on factory site)) 

 03:14 
Avangisivavi has learnt to run the factory, which is now exporting to Europe and East African countries. But she wants to know even more about the secrets of developing chocolate. 

03:27 
SOT Neema Avangisivavi  – factory manager Virunga Origins EN  
I'm passionate about chocolate and I'm committed to going very far in this profession. My vision is to become a renowned chocolatier like the mentor who trained me. ((Gorrilla chocolate is put into boxes, Neema assists))  

03:42
Neema Avangisivavi and other people in Mutwanga hope the peace holds, so they can continue to cultivate cocoa and produce the chocolate that holds the key to their future.   

03:57 

ENDS