Peace brings little hope to Swat orphans

SWAT: Around 2,000 children orphaned in Swat during the operation against the terrorists face an uncertain future as there is no one to take charge.

There is no one to help these children meet their essential needs besides saving them from unscrupulous elements of society.

Children and women are the most vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and violence.

According to a survey more than 2,000 children lost one or both of their parent in bomb blasts by the terrorists and in cross firing between the army and the extremists. A larger number of children were traumatised who witnessed the violence and fled their broken homes to save their lives from the war.

Now that peace has been restored the orphans are suffering from not only privations of being without a guardian but also psychological and social difficulties the impact of which may be acute in the short-term but will undermine long-term mental health and psychosocial well being of the affected children.

Such traumatised children are completely ignored by the government authorities though some philanthropic organisations like Khpal Kor Foundation are in the field. Khpal Kor Foundation is the only orphanage providing free lodging, boarding and education of modern standard to the orphans.

Mohammad Ali, director of the Foundation, told the Express Tribune: “During the insurgency, ratio of the orphan children multiplied and more than 2,000 children were orphaned in the war; we accommodated 50 boys which number has now increased to 200; now we don’t have enough space.”

Talking about girls, he said, “Presently, no such organisation is working for girls who are more vulnerable, to harm. We are opening an orphanage for the girls of modern standard, where they will get lodging, boarding and education free of cost. Construction work is in progress but alone we cannot construct such a huge building. Government and other organisations will have to give a helping hand,” he said.

“We tried a lot for an appointment with the Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to brief him about the current situation of orphan children, particularly about girls and also about our planning in this regard but he could not spare time yet,” he added.

UNICEF has initiated a project activity to provide psycho-social support to the traumatised children of the Khpal Kor Foundation. Imran Khan, who is the coordinator of the project, told the Express Tribune, “When we admitted these war-affected orphan children they used to scream on nights; some fainted every now and then and were very much weak in studies; so we hired psychologists who properly identified their complaints, and referred them for counselling. “We are now giving them psycho-social treatment through recreational programmes. Another aim is to adjust them in the local private schools free of cost in which we are successful to a great extent,” he said.

Naila Zeb, a psychologist working in the same project told the Express Tribune, “The war-affected children are prone to fear of things like darkness while many hesitate to move into society. They feel that any time a crisis can occur, then these children have educational problems and cannot concentrate properly;  some of them have undergone behavioural changes -- they get very much aggressive, especially children from age 11 to 15.”

Regarding their psychological treatment she said, “We have proper mechanism for these children as one-to-one counselling sessions or group session are conducted, group activities like drawings and story writing for the identification of problems and their solution are carried. We are also encouraging them to take part in social activities, involve them with friends, engage them in healthy activities to enhance their mood and they are also encouraged with rewards to boost their self esteem.”

According to Dr Zeb a lot of children are getting better and improving towards normalcy. “Many of them are getting normal who are now taking part in social activities and games, their grades in education have also improved, but they need long-term psycho-social support as psychological issues are not overcome  in short term.”

The number of war-affected traumatised orphan children is very high in Swat valley but for them only a few non-governmental organizations are active who have less space and limited resources. Government and UN organisations need to step forward .

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2010.