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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Thurman Family

Aired October 19, 2003 - 09:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Forget about the luxuries of American life. "Worlds Apart" is a new reality TV show that gives families the chance to give up their 21st century life and experience a distant culture firsthand. It airs on the National Geographic Channel Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
We have a special treat. We have a family who took that challenge, and they're with us this morning. Say hello to the Thurmans: Corinne, Cameron, Robin, Bob, and Caitlin (ph). Good morning to all of you.

BOB THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Good morning.

ROBIN THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Good morning.

CAMERON THURMAN, "WORLD APART": Good morning.

MALVEAUX: OK. So, let's start off with Bob. Bob, I understand this was a two-week ordeal. And this was here in New Guinea, an island. And you all traveled. I believe there's a picture, a shot of a boat where you are all making your way over to what would be your new home for the next two weeks.

Now Bob, you were known as the Bob Vila in your house. You used to fix up things, but you had a great number of challenges here in these two weeks. Tell me about that hut that you built out of yams?

B. THURMAN: Well, it's kind of interesting because there's no nails on the island. So everything had to be built with the vines and the materials that we took out of the forest. The yam house that we built was actually used for storing yams, and it's a sign of wealth for the chief. Fortunately, I was the chief for the week. So...

MALVEAUX: And now, I want to get to Robin. Because all of you -- of course, you two are professionals, and you're juggling all of these things with the kids. Soccer, as well as little league, and all of these different activities. And yet your life is completely different here on this island.

And Robin, there was a sense that there was some frustration. Let's take a listen to that sound bite and then I'll come back to you and ask about that later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R. THURMAN: It's the same thing every day, all day. And I don't think this is what a life of a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) woman is. It's not just this, sitting behind a hot fire all day.

I want to do other things. I can dance, I can work with children, I can learn the rituals, I can weave mats. I mean, there's 100 things. And I just don't think it's fair that I do one thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So Robin, what was that about? What were you doing? What were you doing?

You are a retired schoolteacher, obviously frustrated. You have a lot that you could do. But clearly, these women, they do a lot, and there's a lot of physical labor as well. Tell us about your experience.

R. THURMAN: Well, it is different. And now I'm a vice president at a company called Guest Services, Inc., which is fine dining and hospitality management. And going from that extreme to living in a one-room grass hut and cooking over a hot fire, I think my frustration in that film clip was that I cooked so much. Three big meals a day, lighting the fire from scratch, which took a lot of time, and keeping the fire going and boiling the water.

Also had to kill a chicken. There was no going to the freezer and pulling out the frozen chicken. I had to kill it and boil it and pluck it and cook it. And it was very tedious. Also, using machetes out in the garden, trying to cut your own veng tables and bring them back. Just more physical labor I think than the labor women that women have here, which is also very difficult.

MALVEAUX: And I understand, too, when you talk about the role of women there, that really it's with greeted a moderation. Because you say that women here are not used to exerting that kind of physical force, every single day having to carry out those tasks. And at the same time, men very active in that society.

R. THURMAN: They carry everything on their head like the African culture does. It was just amazing. They even carried our heavy suitcases out at the end of the two-week period. A great admiration for these women, who have much harder physical labor than most American women do.

MALVEAUX: Now, Cameron, tell me, you are a basketball player, you play baseball, little league, everything. And yet I have a clip of you having a little bit of a tough time on this one.

This is Cameron trying to climb what looks like a tree or a pole. Tell us what that was about. Was that a test? Was it a game?

CAMERON THURMAN: Well, there were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which were like their form of...

R. THURMAN: A margarita?

CORINNE THURMAN: Yes. So I would climb up the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tree to get the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nut to sell, which my sisters did the next day.

MALVEAUX: And Caitlin (ph) and Karin (ph), you guys were participating in a dancing festival. We have some video of that as well. Tell us a little bit about the relationships that you developed. I understand that really you became very close to the community that you lived with for those two weeks.

CAITLIN THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Yes, we did. We oftentimes would go out and play with the children and help everyone out in the garden. So, we really did involve -- made a strong relationship with the community.

CORINNE THURMAN Yes. At night we got to play, like hokey pokey and itsy bitsy spider with the children. And we got very close with Leeann (ph), who was the daughter in our host family. And she taught us all we need to know about the Trojan (ph) Islands. And it was just a great experience to be able to bond with everybody, and then show what we learned at the end in our traditional dance and costumes.

MALVEAUX: Now would you say that there are more similarities between you and the young people that you met there or differences?

CORINNE THURMAN: Definitely more similarities, because they feel the same way about, like things we feel about at home. Like -- although, looking great isn't always a big important thing there. They do care about getting good grades in school and working hard.

CAITLIN THURMAN: And they care about family and everything like that, too.

MALVEAUX: Well, that sounds like an incredible experience. And thanks for the bravery of putting that all on camera and allowing us to see that as well.

R. THURMAN: That was the hard part.

MALVEAUX: Well, you have to tune into National Geographic Channel's "Worlds Apart." It airs on Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 19, 2003 - 09:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Forget about the luxuries of American life. "Worlds Apart" is a new reality TV show that gives families the chance to give up their 21st century life and experience a distant culture firsthand. It airs on the National Geographic Channel Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
We have a special treat. We have a family who took that challenge, and they're with us this morning. Say hello to the Thurmans: Corinne, Cameron, Robin, Bob, and Caitlin (ph). Good morning to all of you.

BOB THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Good morning.

ROBIN THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Good morning.

CAMERON THURMAN, "WORLD APART": Good morning.

MALVEAUX: OK. So, let's start off with Bob. Bob, I understand this was a two-week ordeal. And this was here in New Guinea, an island. And you all traveled. I believe there's a picture, a shot of a boat where you are all making your way over to what would be your new home for the next two weeks.

Now Bob, you were known as the Bob Vila in your house. You used to fix up things, but you had a great number of challenges here in these two weeks. Tell me about that hut that you built out of yams?

B. THURMAN: Well, it's kind of interesting because there's no nails on the island. So everything had to be built with the vines and the materials that we took out of the forest. The yam house that we built was actually used for storing yams, and it's a sign of wealth for the chief. Fortunately, I was the chief for the week. So...

MALVEAUX: And now, I want to get to Robin. Because all of you -- of course, you two are professionals, and you're juggling all of these things with the kids. Soccer, as well as little league, and all of these different activities. And yet your life is completely different here on this island.

And Robin, there was a sense that there was some frustration. Let's take a listen to that sound bite and then I'll come back to you and ask about that later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R. THURMAN: It's the same thing every day, all day. And I don't think this is what a life of a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) woman is. It's not just this, sitting behind a hot fire all day.

I want to do other things. I can dance, I can work with children, I can learn the rituals, I can weave mats. I mean, there's 100 things. And I just don't think it's fair that I do one thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So Robin, what was that about? What were you doing? What were you doing?

You are a retired schoolteacher, obviously frustrated. You have a lot that you could do. But clearly, these women, they do a lot, and there's a lot of physical labor as well. Tell us about your experience.

R. THURMAN: Well, it is different. And now I'm a vice president at a company called Guest Services, Inc., which is fine dining and hospitality management. And going from that extreme to living in a one-room grass hut and cooking over a hot fire, I think my frustration in that film clip was that I cooked so much. Three big meals a day, lighting the fire from scratch, which took a lot of time, and keeping the fire going and boiling the water.

Also had to kill a chicken. There was no going to the freezer and pulling out the frozen chicken. I had to kill it and boil it and pluck it and cook it. And it was very tedious. Also, using machetes out in the garden, trying to cut your own veng tables and bring them back. Just more physical labor I think than the labor women that women have here, which is also very difficult.

MALVEAUX: And I understand, too, when you talk about the role of women there, that really it's with greeted a moderation. Because you say that women here are not used to exerting that kind of physical force, every single day having to carry out those tasks. And at the same time, men very active in that society.

R. THURMAN: They carry everything on their head like the African culture does. It was just amazing. They even carried our heavy suitcases out at the end of the two-week period. A great admiration for these women, who have much harder physical labor than most American women do.

MALVEAUX: Now, Cameron, tell me, you are a basketball player, you play baseball, little league, everything. And yet I have a clip of you having a little bit of a tough time on this one.

This is Cameron trying to climb what looks like a tree or a pole. Tell us what that was about. Was that a test? Was it a game?

CAMERON THURMAN: Well, there were (UNINTELLIGIBLE) which were like their form of...

R. THURMAN: A margarita?

CORINNE THURMAN: Yes. So I would climb up the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tree to get the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nut to sell, which my sisters did the next day.

MALVEAUX: And Caitlin (ph) and Karin (ph), you guys were participating in a dancing festival. We have some video of that as well. Tell us a little bit about the relationships that you developed. I understand that really you became very close to the community that you lived with for those two weeks.

CAITLIN THURMAN, "WORLDS APART": Yes, we did. We oftentimes would go out and play with the children and help everyone out in the garden. So, we really did involve -- made a strong relationship with the community.

CORINNE THURMAN Yes. At night we got to play, like hokey pokey and itsy bitsy spider with the children. And we got very close with Leeann (ph), who was the daughter in our host family. And she taught us all we need to know about the Trojan (ph) Islands. And it was just a great experience to be able to bond with everybody, and then show what we learned at the end in our traditional dance and costumes.

MALVEAUX: Now would you say that there are more similarities between you and the young people that you met there or differences?

CORINNE THURMAN: Definitely more similarities, because they feel the same way about, like things we feel about at home. Like -- although, looking great isn't always a big important thing there. They do care about getting good grades in school and working hard.

CAITLIN THURMAN: And they care about family and everything like that, too.

MALVEAUX: Well, that sounds like an incredible experience. And thanks for the bravery of putting that all on camera and allowing us to see that as well.

R. THURMAN: That was the hard part.

MALVEAUX: Well, you have to tune into National Geographic Channel's "Worlds Apart." It airs on Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com