When I was in Fourth grade a girl from Vietnam moved to our town. Gina didn’t speak English very well but we became friends quickly. One day she invited me to spend the night at her house. Her home life was very different than mine, she had a mat for a bed, and a huge room where her cousins (living with her) spent time doing martial arts. Not long after we got home from school, Gina was expected to start supper, while her mom sat in room sewing. At the dinner table I was put at the far end with a hamburger, french fries and a coke, while her family sat at the other end with bowls of rice and different types of vegetables. They ate in their traditional positions and style. I must have been gawking because her mom offered me a taste of what they were eating I remember liking most of it and thinking some of it tasted weird. Gina and I spent the evening in her room. She spoke of Vietnam and the war and violence she had seen. She told me of a bridge by a river where she washed clothes, she watched a man get blown up there, and the bridge disappeared. She spoke of her moms’ village where they hid in an underground cave while the village was destroyed, when they came out of hiding she said they had to walk across the bodies to get to their home. She cried as she spoke, and said she could never go back or they would hang her for treason for leaving her country to come to America. Gina’s dad was an American soldier who had married Gina’s mom. They had lied about San and Too (her cousins) her parents told the government they were her brothers so they could come to the US too.
The psychological effects from the war in Gaza have left children and adults with many scars. Up to 80% of the children suffer from:
· Increased violence
· Sleeping problems, with feelings of fear and anxiety.
· Changes in attachment to family and community.
· Various emotional and cognitive problems such as inability to concentrate.
· Decreasing hope in the future
Muslim Aid is working with families to help cope with the loss of families and help children with the things listed above.
Psychosocial programs seek to limit these effects on children, prevent further harmful events, and strengthen the coping mechanisms of children, their families, and their communities.
Programs to limit the effects on the children and strengthen their coping mechanisms for the children, their families and the community that will prevent further harm are in place. (Mousa, 2009)
References
Mousa, D. Y. (2009, may 2). The Psychological effects of War on Gaza. Retrieved May 28, 2011, from labournet.net: http://www.labournet.net/world/0902/uhwc1.html
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