Gaza
More young people in the Gaza Strip are learning how to deal with stress and trauma than ever before, according to UNRWA.
The trend towards empowering vulnerable refugee children in Gaza to better cope with the extreme challenges they face on a daily basis has seen a greater academic focus in schools and confidence in the students who have received the support, said Dr. Iyad Zaqout, the Programme Manager for the UNRWA Community Mental Health Programme (CMHP).
As the Agency’s CMHP staff continue their work with children to provide an environment of greater acceptance and help children receive the respect and support they need to become positive, contributing members of Gazan society, Dr. Zaqout said his team had noted a decrease in disruptive behaviour amongst children involved in the counselling sessions.
The average UNRWA primary school student has lived through three cycles of renewed military conflict in the past seven years witnessing death, destruction and displacement, and has never left the Gaza Strip, unless perhaps for medical treatment.
Working with a team of 250 trained community health counsellors across the Gaza Strip, in the first week of March 2015 alone, the Agency reached 24,343 students in its recreational CMHP training sessions, including 15,859 students in group guidance sessions, 1,215 students in group counselling and 766 individual counselling sessions.
“We feel very relaxed and full of positive energy after being involved in such sessions,” said one fifth grade female primary school student at UNRWA elementary co/ed school B in Gaza City, who chose to remain anonymous, after participating in a group recreational session designed to help girls explore their feelings, and express and deal with their thoughts in the most effective way. “We will implement these techniques at home,” she said.
After the 2012 conflict, the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder rate among children in Gaza doubled, according to the Agency. Anecdotal evidence suggests the July/August 2014 conflict has further compounded children’s suffering.
The stress of the ongoing blockade, continued conflict, extreme poverty, and increased gender-based violence have produced intense fear, bed-wetting, poor concentration, eating disorders, sleeping disorders, irritability and hyperactivity. If left untreated, these children face the risk of anti-social behaviour and susceptibility to negative influences, plunging Gaza deeper into despair.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 100 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness UNRWA Spokesperson Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659 Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267 c.gunness@unrwa.org
Sami Mshasha Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson Mobile: +972 (0)54 216 8295 Office: +972 (0)2 589 0724 s.mshasha@unrwa.org