Stories

Children’s details have been altered to protect their identity.

 
 

Akiki, Age 12

Akiki was 12 years old when unusually heavy rains caused widespread flooding in his hill-side village. Then the hillside itself started to move as liquid mud engulfed people and homes. Akiki  ran from the school playground searching for his family, not knowing if they were alive or dead, until he found his father’s body floating in the muddy water.

The bereaved family were now left without any source of income and the disaster had a huge impact on Akiki. Every night, he would see his father's body in his dreams. He seemed terrified and panicky whenever rain threatened and he refused to go into the school playground where some of his friends had been buried.  His mother could not understand why her bright son now refused to go to school, why he was so quick to become angry and pick fights with his siblings, or to cry. He was often depressed and unresponsive.

This continued for months until Paul, an ACTI-trained CATT counsellor, arrived to help children traumatised by the disaster. Akiki was reluctant to see the therapist but soon came to trust him. With Paul's help, he was able to process his traumatic memories and learned simple ways to help with anxiety. He looked forward to his sessions. His nightmares diminished, and his relationship with his family and behaviour at home improved. Akiki started to play out with friends again, and to go to school regularly. He mourned the death of his father and friends and dreaded another mudslide, but he was now less burdened by the tragedies and more positive about the future.

 
 

OMOLLO, Age 13

“I went to the centre and I told Sister Florence my problem and she counselled me. … It has calmed me and released the sadness I was having and out of the counselling is what I am now, since I am improving and getting better.” – Omollo

13 year old Omollo was one of a group of Ugandan girls who were about to be trafficked to a neighbouring country when their cries of fear and distress alerted passers-by.  They were taken to the Bishop Asili Counselling Centre in Lira, where they were given food and shelter. The other girls recovered quickly but they reported that Omollo was wandering around all night, couldn't stay still and was frightened of everyone she met. They thought she was 'mad'.

Sister Florence, who runs the centre, managed to gain the child's trust and gradually discovered that this abduction was the latest in a series of traumatic events. Omollo's mother was disabled, shunned and abused by her neighbours and forced to beg in order to survive. When Omollo was only seven, she was sent to Kampala to work as a domestic slave, and was physically and sexually abused.  She was eventually reunited with her mother but then their house was attacked and burned.

Identifying complex post traumatic stress disorder, Sister Florence first made sure that Omollo's basic needs were met and then set about counselling her, carefully helping her re-process her traumatic memories using CATT.   Over several months, Omollo found she could sleep at night and was no longer so fearful. She now feels she has some control of her own life and can dream of a future where she supports herself and her family through her newly learned skills as a tailor. 

 

 
 

RASHID, Age 10

When war started in Syria, Rashid was only seven years old and couldn't understand why his parents and relatives were so anxious. Then one night their neighbourhood was bombed and he saw people injured and bleeding.  He and his family were lucky to escape with only minor injures but they lost everything and home became a tent in a large camp of displaced people.  For the next three years,  symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) dominated Rashid's life  and that of his whole family. He stopped playing, seemed listless and uninterested in family life, but he was quick to come angry for little reason. His parents found it difficult to cope with his mood swings. At school he was almost completely silent and often didn't seem to hear or see what was happening around him. Yet, when his teacher put out red pens for the class to use, he became really upset and ran crying from the room.

Now ten, Rashid's life is at last returning to normal.  After several sessions with a counsellor trained by ACT International to use CATT, he was able to think about the night of the bombing without being overcome by terror.  It was as if he had put those bad memories firmly into the past.  After seven sessions of therapy, he has fewer angry outbursts and can sleep in his own bed untroubled by  nightmares. He is much more confident and outgoing. His teachers reports that he now joins in all class activities but she avoids using red pens as a precaution.

 
 

AHMED, Age 9

Before his leg was amputated, Ahmed was a fun-loving child who loved playing football in the street outside his home in Gaza. He was injured when his neighbourhood was shelled and his house suffered a direct hit. In the months that followed, he had a series of operations as doctors focussed on his physical recovery. It was only gradually that his family saw how much emotional and psychological pain the bomb had inflicted.

The nine year old became quiet and withdrawn,  reluctant to go outside.  He tried to suppress bad memories and avoided anything that reminded him of the shelling but in nightmares he saw his mother trapped in the rubble screaming. Unable to explain the cause of his terror, he told his parents it was as if a monster was coming to crush him.

 A year passed, then another, but Ahmed's fearfulness and sense of isolation grew. He was unable to complete the simplest task and some days he couldn't even get out of bed.  Eventually he was diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder and referred for treatment with a specialist counsellor who helped him process his memories and feelings and regain his confidence. It will take Ahmed more time to adjust to his disability, but the sense of fear has gone and he is back at school where he has new friends. He's had to abandon plans to become a famous footballer but is now studying hard and hoping to be an engineer like his father.