Political interests hamper traumatized children's recovery
Political interests hamper traumatized children's recovery
Thousands of children traumatized in armed conflicts are now
facing hardship in various refugee camps. The social cost that
Indonesia will have to pay by neglecting the situation today
would be enormous according to psychologist Shinto B. Adelar of
the University of Indonesia. The following is an excerpt from her
interview with The Jakarta Post recently. Related articles are
also run on this page, questioning the society's readiness to
deal with the problem.
Question: How ready are we to deal with the problems of
children traumatized in communal violence?
Answer: There are facilities and institutions that deal with
the problems but they are only recently established. And we need
data about how many children need such treatment. There's no such
data. We don't know how many traumatized children there are in
East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, Manado (in North Sulawesi), West
Kalimantan, Madura and East Java and Aceh.
We have only started. Indonesia has never before faced this
situation (where there are countless traumatized children). In
the past, there were (victims of) violence, but we could not
speak about it as the government was so repressive. So our
psychologists and psychiatrists were not trained (to deal with
traumatized children). Instead, we had foreign workers from
institutions such as Unicef, Christian Children's Fund, Save the
Children, World Vision and others.
Now we have the Crisis Center at the University of Indonesia's
School of Psychology. There are similar centers at the Sumatra
Utara University and Airlangga University. There are numerous
non-governmental organizations working in the field but mostly
for emergency work such as the provision of food, clean water and
sanitation, rather than on traumatized children.
I understand organizations such as Christian Children's Fund
also helps find adopted parents for the children while Unicef
holds career trainings and there are organizations that extend
psychosocial assistance to refugee children. Still we need solid
data on how many traumatized children there are from armed
conflicts. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health is currently
preparing a guideline for doctors at puskesmas (village health
centers) near conflict areas to identify and handle post
traumatic stress disorder.
Q: So there is help for traumatized children now. What is
lacking?
A: We all need to be better coordinated. Physical assistance is
not enough for people with psychological problems. Both physical
and psychological treatment is needed. The helpers must also
understand the social and cultural characteristics of the
affected people. This is important so that the assistance given
will not be misinterpreted as meddling, the way it was with the
UNHCR (in Atambua), and lead to new conflicts.
Also to be considered when we work with displaced people or
refugees are the local people where the refugees are sheltered.
They are also victimized. They have to sacrifice their land,
their food, which is not plenty in the first place and they have
to tolerate differences in culture. This is potential for
conflict. Therefore, a social psychological approach is needed.
Presently, our approach to treatment of trauma is
individualistic but actually how an individual deals with their
trauma is influenced by their psychosocial environment. Actually,
there are now many people who help traumatized individuals but
less attention is given to those suffering from post traumatic
stress disorder such as the children in armed conflicts.
Q: Tell us about the Crisis Center at the School of Psychology,
University of Indonesia...
A: It was set up shortly after the May 1998 riots to anticipate
the number of people traumatized in the unrest. Also because
people said there were many women raped then. I said "people
said" because actually no one came forward to say they were
raped. A Jakarta branch of an association of psychologists
received a call from someone, soon after the riots, asking help
for ten rape victims, all of them Buddhist. OK. But several days
later the association received another call to cancel the request
because the rape victims were too afraid to come for help.
The center is part of the School of Psychology and so the
person in charge is the dean. Recently (a staff lecturer) Atjuk
Parsudi MSc was appointed chairman of the center. The center is
staffed by an estimated 100 lecturers, plus about 50 volunteers.
So far, we have sent missions to Ambon and to Bengkulu following
the earthquake. We are now making preparations to send another
mission to Ambon.
Q: How do you treat children traumatized because they were
victims or witnesses of violence during armed conflict?
A: Because this involves many children, we work in groups. We
employ various techniques, for instance, through play. But what
we do in general is reestablish routine for the children (in
refugee centers). Before the violence, the children's routine
were, for example, going to school or playing with friends. In
their new environment in the refugee centers, everything is
uncertain--so this becomes a new source of stress. Routine helps
restore children's feeling of safety.
So we encourage adults to help children reestablish a routine
such as studying or whatever is it they can do together. We also
encourage children to express their feelings and their experience
of witnessing violence. We help them digest the experience and
handle their feelings. If they are insomniac, angry or fearful,
we help them understand what's happening inside them.
There are some things that we can overcome, there are other
things that are simply beyond our power (to rectify). For
instance, we know how certain political interests lead to
situations which are not favorable for the children's recovery.
The warring parties, for instance, do not want to have
peace...Adults who are angry may perpetuate tension in children
by spreading hatred.
Q: How long does it take for a traumatized child to heal?
A: It depends on the individual. People who witnessed natural
deaths say they still remember them after five years. What about
children who witnessed violent deaths? They surely need more time
(to heal.) This is not to mention the continued anxieties and
fears they experience in refugee camps because there are people
there who continue to spread tension--all this affects the
children.
I read about someone who witnessed the death of a parent
during the communist purge (in the 1960s); he needed 34 years to
resolve his inner conflict about the violence. He suffered from
insomnia, eating disorder and other problems because he did not
get systematic help.
Studies conducted overseas show that when children are
deprived, for instance, of food or education in refugee camps,
their intellectual development suffers. Their moral development
are also stunted and they might nurture morality based on
fanaticism.
There are also an increased risks of substance abuse. The
children's sexual behavior may also be affected because of loose
parental control in refugee camps. Even now some parents in
refugee camps in Indonesia are complaining about not being able
to control their children.
We have thousands, tens of thousands of children who are
facing this prospect. We can imagine the social cost that we have
to pay in the future unless we take decisive actions now. Are we
going to attend to this now or are we going to wait until this
problem explodes? (swe)