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https://www.positive.news/society/peace/the-right-to-play-displaced-by-conflict/>
"Hamza, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy who had spent his whole life in the
overcrowded Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, used to be
withdrawn and shy. He rarely spoke and avoided interacting with other children.
When he started school aged six, he had never held a pencil or opened a book.
But then he began taking part in the Enhancing Quality and Inclusive Education
(EQIE) programme, run by the global NGO Right To Play. Alongside receiving
speech therapy, he took part in group activities, which helped him start
expressing his emotions through drawing, storytelling and roleplay. His
favourite game was “guess the emotion”, where one child would act out a feeling
and the others had to guess it.
His confidence grew. One year later, he could write his own name, recognise
letters and had made friends. After four years, he was a thriving, joyful child
who proactively took part in class. He told his teacher his dream was to become
a dentist.
Hamza’s story is just one example of how play-based interventions can
positively impact children who have experienced displacement or war-related
trauma. Play, which comes in multiple forms, is integral to teaching children
core skills and boosting self-esteem, explains Racha Nasreddine, country
director for Lebanon at the charity.
“It’s not always moving and playing and causing chaos,” she says. “It’s more
about how you transfer specific knowledge in a very interactive way, and how
you make that child an active actor in their learning process. For a child,
what is always important is creating a routine. In war, children lose a sense
of control over their lives, so play can bring some of that back.”
Interventions like these are urgently needed. Conflicts across the Middle East,
Ukraine and Sudan have caused immense suffering, with children heavily
impacted. According to Unicef, nearly 50 million children had been displaced
due to conflict and violence by the end of 2024, almost triple the figure in
2010."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
