Less Fearful, More Active: The Children
Home is the pre-fabricated city of Uzunçiftlik, İzmit.
Photograph by Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2001
The Children
Outside of the various evaluation procedures which MONE and UNICEF used to quantify the three primary components of the Psycho-social School Project, there were several marked benefits of the project which were apparent from the impressions of counsellors directly involved with the children.
The most striking benefit, of course, would concern the effects of the project upon the children themselves and counsellors reported many observable changes amongst the child participants. There was a general increase in activity and a notable acceleration in the recovery process which exceeded initial expectations. The more seriously traumatised children became significantly less fearful, more active,
and becoming less withdrawn, took a greater part in school activities and were inclined to play more. Those children who had been reluctant to return to school either through fear of an earthquake recurrence or more generalised disturbance had no trouble resuming normal school activities after participating in the intervention programmes.
This is a very humanistic project. The children feel and see that someone cares about them, thinks of them and is there for them. They feel that they are valued and that has a positive effect on them.
An increase in motivation to work hard, to read and study was noted as a general effect of participation in the programme with increased academic success being the notable, expected, result. Social skills were honed to some degree and there have been reports of the reduced incidence of sex discrimination amongst adolescent participants.
The programme provided a platform for the children to talk about their experiences and confront many of the related issues and problems and here a general improvement in communication skills was noted. Through this aspect, the children also developed a keener awareness of their own behaviour and reactions, increased their self-esteem and sharpened their problem solving and coping skills -- qualities which are easily transferred to daily life.
The structured routine and the subtle discipline of the CBI successfully improved the children’s capacity to accept authority, to co-operate and empathise and to once more to feel the sense of community which is a vital antidote to the traumatic effects of disaster. It would seem that the intervention of adult counsellors was itself apparent to the children as a model of co-operation, showing them how to help one another, increasing their sense of solidarity. On a reciprocal note, it was observed by many of the children that the teachers themselves had improved in their ability to play.
The fully illustrated text of Less Fearful, More Active is also available for download in print-ready pdf format. [PDF 1.25MB]
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