“Who
would like to have a book?” Mohammad Reza Salah, an Iranian
Red Crescent (IRCS) volunteer, asks the crowd of children, aged
between three and 12 years old, gathered around him.
“I would like you to write down in this notebook what
you do, who you play with, what you like, what you don’t
like, how you feel,” he says. “I also want you to
go to other tents, make friends with other children and write
down what happens to them.”
Mohammad, who has been working with children for eight years,
is one of the 95 volunteer psychologists and nurses from the
IRCS who have been providing psychological support to children
and their parents in Bam, trying to help them overcome the trauma
of the earthquake that struck the city on 26 December.
The earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, claimed
around 30,000 lives, left about 30,000 injured and an estimated
75,000 homeless.
Sharing problems
“In the first days after the earthquake people concentrate
on survival, on trying to find their relatives, to get shelter,
food and water, and cover their basic needs,” says Aghdase
Kafi, an IRCS psychologist who is part of the psychosocial support
team.
“But it is also very important for children and their
families to have the possibility to talk about their feelings
and share their problems, to see that there are others in the
same situation as they are.”
“Through games and drawings we try to provide a space
where the children and their parents can do this,” she
adds.
When the team of six volunteers arrives at the improvised tent
camps scattered throughout the city, they divide themselves
up, some working with the children, and the rest approaching
their parents, individually or in groups.
IRCS volunteers encourage the parents to come out of the tent
and meet other people, partly to help them share their grief,
but also to set a good example. “If the children see them
do it, they will follow their example and play with other children,”
Aghdase says.
“I’m very impressed with the programme and with
the idea of combining care for the children with counselling
for the mother and father,” says Rikke Gormsen, the International
Federation’s psychosocial regional delegate deployed in
Bam.
Health education
“This is a clear example of how with very simple means
you can do lot of things to prevent the development of mental
disorders, especially because they are encouraging mothers to
recognise them,” she adds.
Counselling is combined with education on basic health care,
hygiene and environmental issues.
“Before the quake they had everything, a house, a proper
bathroom, all the hygienic and sanitary goods they needed. Now
they have to be taught how to live with what they have got,”
Gormsen explains.
Currently, around 75,000 people live in tents, sharing water
sources and latrines.
The IRCS has been involved with psychological support in disasters
for many years. It will develop this programme and take it to
schools, getting teachers involved and reaching teenagers.
Gudbjorg Sveinsdottir, a psychiatric nurse from the Icelandic
Red Cross also deployed in Bam, says feelings of distress, caused
by a sense of helplessness, hopelessness, guilt and grief are
a normal reaction after major disasters such as earthquakes.
“A consequence of all this can be the increase in conflicts
between people and inside the families. It can also have a big
impact in the production of the city,” she says.
The Iranian authorities say an estimated 30,000 persons affected
by the disaster can be reached by mass distribution of information
on how to deal with stress and trauma. However, an estimated
25,000 persons will need some kind of further support.
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Three-year-old
Mohammad Ali with his mother, Jamileh. "It is good
for the children to play and forget their worries for
a while," she says (p11028)
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Iranian
Red Crescent volunteer Marziya Yousefenajad encourages
bam's children to sing and play (p11032)
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Mothers
have a crucial role to play, not only in recognising psychological
problems in their children, but also in passing on vital
information regarding halth and hygiene (p11031)
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| Through
games and interacting with others, children have the chance
to talk about their feelings (p11030)
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News
