CRI听力:Children in Gaza Face Psychological Trauma

Despite the ending of a month-long assault in the Gaza Strip, people in the besieged enclave, especially children, are still facing psychological problems because of the previous violence.

CRI's Qizhi has more.

Eleven-year-old Tagreed spent 50 days with a thousand other people taking shelter at Dier El-Balah Girls School in Gaza.

"My home was totally destroyed. I heard and saw the shelling. I was very scared. I feel safe here, but I want to go back to my home. I wish to be happy like other children in the world. I feel that my childhood is gone."

Tagreed is just one of many cases showing how children suffered in the conflict. A UN report has estimated that 373,000 children will need direct and specialized psychological counseling after the end of the conflict, while all students will require some form of psychological assistance.

Abu Hossam, a psychologist in Gaza, says there are various problems.

"The main problems normally are PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), depression, anxiety... You'll find that children are scared of darkness, they have some behavior problems, not being able to enjoy themselves, wanting to sleep in their parents' bed, and terrifies at night, screaming, nightmares, bed-wetting."

Psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers are now visiting homes, hospitals, and community centers to offer psychological assistance. They will also go to schools to do some intervention.

"Early intervention is very important. Overall, the hard cases, after we intervene with them, and we normalize their experience, making them feel that this is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation, then people will start to understand and their behavior will improve and their functioning will become much better."

The new school year has been postponed to September 14. Motasem Al-Minawe, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Education in Gaza, says there will be some special psychological arrangements.

"The first week we will not have regular education, only psychological support, for both students and teachers, because the teachers will face different and complicated cases during the semester, especially cases with people who lost their houses, friends or relatives."

Special training for teachers is currently underway, including how to deal with shock, how to give instructions for the students to deal with their stress through playing. Students will be taught special exercise techniques and be guided to express their feelings by painting and talking.

"For elementary schools, we can arrange some tours to take children out and play. For secondary schools, we will face big problems, but we will deal with this by talking, encouraging them, and preparing a normal and natural life for them."

For CRI, I'm qizhi.