The Psycho Social Behaviour of Children Survivors In Post- Genocide Countries - Essay Example

The Psycho Social behavior of Children Survivors In Post- Genocide Countries When genocide happens to any country, one of the most disadvantaged groups are children. The case of Rwanda alone reveals shocking statistics in its case of genocide. According to the United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF ), there are more than one million orphans in Rwanda. Majority of these orphaned children were victims of the 1991 genocide, however, high incidence of HIV/AIDS greatly contributed to large numbers of children being orphaned. In fact, it is a prevalent practice in Rwanda among children survivors to raise younger children by themselves resulting to child-headed families where some 42,000 households struggle to raise an estimated 101,000 children ( United Nations: Lessons from Rwanda ). Children in post-genocide countries are at a disadvantage since they are deprived of the basic necessities in life such as food, shelter, clothing, medical care and education; in addition, they carry the burden of raising fellow children which is suited to an adult. Children survivors of post-genocide countries are affected in many aspects of their development. They are affected economically, psychologically, and socially. However, one of the most pronounced manifestation of trauma in children survivors are behavioral changes. In a report by the UN Secretary General to the General Assembly in 1996, it was stated that : Children who suffer from stress display a wide range of symptoms, including increased separation anxiety and developmental delays, sleep disturbances and nightmares, lack of appetite, withdrawn behavior, lack of interest in play, and, in younger children, learning difficulties. In older children and adolescents, responses to stress can include anxious or aggressive behavior and depression. ( 49 ) In 2007, an important study appeared in the Journal of Traumatic Stress . The authors, Atle Dyregrov, Leila Gupta, Rolf Gjestad, and Eugenie Mukanoheli conducted a study that started in 1994 that interviewed 3030 survivors aged 8-19 from Rwanda . These children survivors saw their loved ones violently killed by machetes and heard screams of help. They also witnessed the participation of trusted adults as well as children in some of the killings. In fact, these children believed that they would die during that horrible period, or even if they survived, they would not reach adulthood. The study revealed a high incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among the children. The results are disturbing: Overall, the data indicate that many children continued to have intrusive images, thoughts, and feelings 13–20 months after exposure to the events of the war, despite their attempts to remove the event from their memory and to avoid these reminders. Many of the children also reported increased arousal symptoms such as an inability to concentrate or pay attention. ( 7 ) It was concluded in the study that children survivors suffer from learning disabilities which would immensely affect their future. As of now, UNICEF is currently implementing rehabilitation programs for the child survivors not only of Rwanda but other countries that experienced conflict. Aside from young children, adolescent survivors are also severely affected especially if they have witnessed the atrocious crime themselves. In normal situations, adolescents are into the stage where they make plans for the future , often daydreaming. This is also the stage where they establish relationships with the opposite sex. Since their normal lives have been interrupted by armed conflict, these adolescents become pessimistic, depressed, which can later end up in suicide ( UN Report 50 ). Moreover, adolescents face complications in the course of their social development since they are in the developmental stage of finding their own identity. But with the loss of a parent(s) due to violence, the situation is further complicated. This is a concern since adolescents badly need role models that will guide them. The consequence of this loss of moral values thereby predisposing the adolescent to commit violence he himself abhorred. Children who get into armed conflict can be involuntarily involved such as by being abducted by a certain army group. However, there are children who voluntarily join armed conflict due to dire poverty, feeling of helplessness and vulnerability, peer pressure, or desire for revenge ( qtd. In Grossman 326 ). In Northern Uganda , there were incidents of children survivors numbering no less than five thousand being abducted and forced to work into military camps. Children survivors of Burma have also experienced being rounded up by military groups and forced to cooperate. The study made by Grossman published an anecdote in a life of a thirteen-year old child survivor engaged in armed conflict against a group of children ages eight and nine year-old. The children had a hard time carrying their AK-47 since it is too heavy for them. The following statement was very disturbing: I was in an ambush and bullets were flying back and forth, people were shooting. I didn’t want to pull the trigger at all but when you watch kids …..being shot and killed and… dying and crying their blood is spilled all over your face you must move beyond, something just pushed you and start pulling the trigger. ( qtd. Griossman 351 ). Children at this point have no more options, it is either they kill or get killed. The inhumanity of war and the harsh violence robs the children of their innocence. The children can get used to killing since they are desensitized in the process by avoiding or even denying emotional pain. This ability to deny or become apathetic was a good defense mechanism that allowed the children to survive the traumas of losing one’s parents, and face murder, torture, and eventually death ( Kahn and Kestenberg 112 ). Even very young children have learned psychic adjustments by justifying to SS officers that they should not be killed since their hands are useless. Although children survivors of genocide may have different cultures since they come from different geographical locations, fear is a universal experience. In the history of mankind, the Holocaust is a tragedy that left deep imprints in the hearts and minds of its children survivors. In fact, some of the survivors would even vehemently deny that they were part of that tragic event. Again, this is a manifestation of denial since it would be painful to recollect memories. Thus, for people conducting interviews on this subject matter sometimes faced a blank wall and have to painstakingly extract truth out of the interviewees. As recounted by one survivor of the Holocaust: Telling the truth was difficult for us child survivors from the very start, when we would have loved to gush our anguish. We would have been killed had we exposed ourselves. Through severe internal and external injunctions, our stories were not acknowledged. They were hidden, fragmented, splintered, inside a similarly hidden, compartmentalized non coherent self. ( Kestenberg and Fogelman 122 ) In the conduct of such interviews, the interviewers themselves cannot help become affected since there is a transference happening between them and their subject. They seem to play the role of a missing relative in order to accommodate the emotional needs of their subjects. Looking back at the history of mankind, empires conquered other lands in the pursuit of fame and riches. As centuries progressed, nations went into war in order to claim more territories necessary for expansion. Ironically, sixty million others were also annihilated in the twentieth century, often after nation-states embarked upon lethal projects of social engineering intent upon eliminating certain undesirable and “contaminating” elements of the population ( Laban Hinton 1 ). In plain English, genocide was used as a means to an end by corrupted groups of people. The staggering figures of the victims of genocide ,particularly young children are shocking, yet in due course of time, people get used to the events as sporadic incidence of genocide are committed from different parts of the world. Beyond the statistics are nameless faces who lived normally before the tragedy befell on them. Sadly, those who survived are children who must live with painful memories to the last day of their lives. Different forms of defense mechanisms may have been adapted by these children survivors but they can never escape the reality of their past . A single stroke of sensory stimulation – a perfume, voices, simulated situations, photographs evoke the deepest fears that haunts them. In the meantime, different well-meaning groups like anthropologists, psychiatrists, and scholars have been funded by big institutions in order to recollect the events so that the world may learn its lesson. However, children survivors of recent genocide such as the Rwandan experience continue to live in misery. The economy of the countries they live in does not much have to offer to rehabilitate their plight. One of the best thing that this generation of educators can do to help them is to conscientiously educate the young generation about genocide and its evils. Perhaps, if this advocacy against genocide is planted inside the classroom, the seed will grow and hopefully eliminate future instances of genocide. Education is the best transmitter of culture and for those who carry the burden of educating young children, let them carry this burden so future generations would be spared of this menace to mankind. WORKS CITED Dyregrov Atle, Gupta Leila, Gjestad Rolf, and Mukanoheli Eugenie . Trauma Exposure and Psychological Reactions to Genocide Among Rwandan Children. Journal of Traumatic Stress. Vol.13. No. 1, 2000. Laban Hinton, Alexander .Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA. 2002. Page Number: 1. Fogelman ,Eva. and Kestenberg ,Judith S .Children during the Nazi Reign: Psychological Perspective on the Interview Process. Praeger Publishers. Westport, CT. 1994.Page Number: 122. Grossman, Nienke. Rehabilitation or Revenge: Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Human Rights Violations. Journal of International Law. vol. 38. 2007 Kahn ,Charlotte and Kestenberg, Judith S. Children Surviving Persecution: An International Study of Trauma and Healing. Praeger. Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1998. Page Number: 112. United Nations : Lessons from Rwanda.(http://www.un.org/prevent genocide/rwanda/ support.shtml) Read More