Kids starting to cope with tragedy
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Sukran Pakkan - Milliyet
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 08, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Children affected by the tragedy last month in Mardin’s Bilge village are improving psychologically, according to a report that said they have started drawing pictures of flowers and homes instead of blood and guns.
The report focuses on the psychological-support program provided for 128 children and 70 adults who lost their relatives in the massacre in Mardin.
On May 4, masked gunmen armed with assault rifles attacked an engagement party in the Bilge village of Mazıdağı district, killing 44 people, including six children and 16 women, and injuring three others. The bride, the groom, his parents and his 4-year-old sister, as well as three pregnant women, were among the dead.
Psychologist Nedret Öztan, a member of the support team in Bilge village, said a few of the survivors will not get over the incident and will need further support and medical treatment in the future.
According to Öztan, the number of children affected by the massacre is very high. "Around 70 children in the village, and around 50 children among the group who migrated after the incident, were affected by the incident," she said.
The support team in Bilge village was made up of 35 people, including doctors, children-development experts, psychologists, social-services experts and nurses. People affected by the tragedy also received the help of 30 religious officials. Öztan said their work with the children was a kind of psychological "first aid" through which they were trying to remind the children that they were not alone.
Games, activities, talks and drawings are conducted with the children to take them out of the atmosphere they are living in. Öztan said children do not draw the incident directly since they look at the world from a different perspective than adults. "They were drawing symbolic pictures that reflected their internal chaos in the beginning. Later on, they started to draw pictures of houses, schools and flowers," she said.
Adults affected too
It will take more time for adults to get over this tragic incident as well, Öztan said, adding that the loss of relatives in the usual ways is more tolerable and that this incident and the reasons behind it were hard to understand for adults too.
Öztan said additional support and medical treatment would be provided in the future for a few of the children and adults who have trouble putting the situation behind them. If necessary, some of the villagers will be sent to hospitals to receive further help.
On May 4, masked gunmen armed with assault rifles attacked an engagement party in the Bilge village of Mazıdağı district, killing 44 people, including six children and 16 women, and injuring three others. The bride, the groom, his parents and his 4-year-old sister, as well as three pregnant women, were among the dead.
Psychologist Nedret Öztan, a member of the support team in Bilge village, said a few of the survivors will not get over the incident and will need further support and medical treatment in the future.
According to Öztan, the number of children affected by the massacre is very high. "Around 70 children in the village, and around 50 children among the group who migrated after the incident, were affected by the incident," she said.
The support team in Bilge village was made up of 35 people, including doctors, children-development experts, psychologists, social-services experts and nurses. People affected by the tragedy also received the help of 30 religious officials. Öztan said their work with the children was a kind of psychological "first aid" through which they were trying to remind the children that they were not alone.
Games, activities, talks and drawings are conducted with the children to take them out of the atmosphere they are living in. Öztan said children do not draw the incident directly since they look at the world from a different perspective than adults. "They were drawing symbolic pictures that reflected their internal chaos in the beginning. Later on, they started to draw pictures of houses, schools and flowers," she said.
Adults affected too
It will take more time for adults to get over this tragic incident as well, Öztan said, adding that the loss of relatives in the usual ways is more tolerable and that this incident and the reasons behind it were hard to understand for adults too.
Öztan said additional support and medical treatment would be provided in the future for a few of the children and adults who have trouble putting the situation behind them. If necessary, some of the villagers will be sent to hospitals to receive further help.