Hilfe für die Kinder von Beirut

Vor sechs Monaten, am 4. August 2020, verwüstete eine gewaltige Explosion die libanesische Hauptstadt Beirut. Die Straßen waren übersät mit Glasscherben und Trümmern und Tausende Häuser wurden zerstört. Die Explosion versetzte die Menschen in Angst und Schrecken – vor allem die Kinder.

Yousef Sarhan ist zehn Jahre alt. Er ist aus Syrien geflüchtet und lebt mit seiner Familie in Beirut. Zum Zeitpunkt der Explosion war die Familie zu Hause.

„Meine Mutter saß draußen. Mein Vater schlief“, berichtet Yousef. „Mein Bruder und ich waren auf dem Bett, als wir die Explosion hörten. Wir rannten nach draußen und legten uns auf den Boden. Ich hatte furchtbare Angst.“

Yousef lives nearby the centre with his mother, father and brother. They have lived in Lebanon for five years after fleeing Syria because of the war.

Talking about the August 4th explosion at Beirut port: “We were at home when the explosion happened. My mother was sitting outside, my father was sleeping. We were on the bed, we heard the explosion, we went outside then we lay down. I was terrified.”
“The glass all broke, and the washing machine broke too. Also the bed and the closet broke. One window in the kitchen was not broken.
We slept at home

On The NRC lesson:
The activities were, the sun and the mountain, and drawing, also we learned about the brain. The activity which I liked most is the sun and the mountain because it makes me feel happy. I had fun, yes I had fun, also I was happy

Interview with Yousef

*Youssef how did you know about NRC?
I saw you every day, and then my mom told me that she registered me in NRC
*For how long you have been in NRC?
Two days
*How often do you come?
Every Tuesday and Thursday
*What kind of activities do you do in NRC center, would you please tell me?
Mountain and sun
*What does Mountain and Sun mean?
About the brain

We painted, and they taught us about the brain.
*What did you learn about the brain?
When we are happy or sad
*What do we do when we are happy?
We enjoy
It feels sad
*Which activity you liked most?
Sun and mountain.
Why did you like it most?
*Because they made me happy.
Do you enjoy when you do the mountain and the sun’s activity?
Ok
*Youssef, do you practice the mountain and the sun activity at home?
I learned it today.
*If you learned today, so what are you going to do when you return home?
The sun and the mountain activity.
*Do you have siblings; are they older or younger than you?
A brother, he is younger than me.
*Did you fight with him, or have you been angry from each other one day?
It never happened.
*Do you practice at home what do you learn at the center, to help you feel more satisfy?
Sometimes.
*Like what?
Breathing
*Exactly, how do we breathe?
*Good, what else do you do among the activities that you have learned in the center?
Just those.
*Youssef, how did you feel when you participated in the activities of NRC center?
I enjoyed it.
*Why did you enjoy it?
Because they make me enjoy it.

Interview with Social emotional support facilitator Chadi Zein:
You saw how the boy participated, he was great, he reached his limit, then he moved to another place.
We wasted time on behavior issues during the last class.
Today it worked out because I made an intensive lesson about the content of the last lesson and the safe zone, because it was the occasion of prophet’s birthday, I had to do it intensive.
These activities are one of the most important things that students must learn, not only in difficult times and in the occurrence of disasters and problems. This type of classes should be practice in every school around the world in order to achieve peace in the world.
Because these activities, which they learn in these classes, allow them to discover what is happening deep inside them, and how they feel when something is happening or if they are thinking about an idea, if that idea is preferred or not, and what can I do for similar thoughts.
They are learning emotional intelligence, the feelings and the thoughts, that’s means, what I can do when I am scared or sad or angry, should I let it control me and makes me tired and sick, or I manage it in a better way by reducing it and choose what is happening inside me.
He is like a farmer who cultivates his land, he doesn’t leave the weed in his land, but he removes them. The children respond wonderfully in this context.
First of all I ask them, I know when I ask a child how did you feel before and after the activities, from time to time and according to the design of BLB, you have to ask the child: how did you feel, did you do the exercises at home or not, and what did you feel after doing the exercises? He distinguishes where he feels.
For example, this is the scale of feelings, before coming to the center, the children don’t know what they are feeling, and a child lives a state but doesn’t think about it.
As soon as he arrives in the center he learns how to think, if he is very happy or a little bit happy or a bit sad or very sad, or angry, then he learns that the feelings are normal things, they move like an ocean wave.
Sometimes, some events cause stress, what I should do to be relieved, so that these events do not disturb me much. What I should do to reduce it. They learn all of this here.
It changes their lives in certain point, I know that this thing has happened in concrete terms from what they say and they tell you.
For example I have three students in one class they are brothers, once the old brother saw his other brothers fighting, he remembered that when they get angry they can do the deep breathing and use other tools, he reminded them of that but they didn’t listen to him, he went to a safe zone and relieved, then he went in the room, he saw his brothers paintings together and stopped fighting, they were communicating between each other.
That’s because all of them used the tools that they learned here, and they used them in their daily life, without need to anybody to remind them of these tools, they remember themselves so they feel more comfortable.
Because of that, all the children must learn these type of exercises and tools, to be more satisfied and to have a valuable relationship between them and their friends, their teachers and their parents, this relationship should not be built on violence or anger etc.. But built on controlling the feelings and thoughts and to communicate through relations in a comfortable environment, which contains more dialogue.
Also it effects positively on their grades, as well as on everything they do. You asked me how do I know that. At the end of the course we speak with the parents, I ask them, did you see a progress, and they say yes we can feel a concrete progress
The explosion in Beirut has affected all of us, as adults, in our works and activities, all of us are vulnerable to trauma. It was a trauma for everyone, it was a near-death experience, and we were almost being hurt. If it affected us like this, how did it affect children? The children are fresh dewy buds; definitely they were affected by the explosion.
Someone thinks that a cloud is an explosion, another when he hears a loud sound, he thinks it is an explosion, and another if he sees smoke he thinks it is an explosion. It exists in their daily life and makes them worried, a part from what they saw, and some children saw very terrifying scenes.
Sometimes the children speak about it. In the class we respect the privacy of the child, so we don’t ask the child to tell us what has happened to him.
When we work on the events which cause stress, we mention the war and the explosion, which are among other events which happen.
There are children tell you, for example, if we do the breathing exercise or another exercise and said that it relieves us, sometimes a child come and tell you that he had pieces of glass in his leg, or he was injured, every child spontaneously tells us, I don’t go through details with him but I continue the lesson, this thing is heard and drawn.
A child drew the explosion, I am not sure if it still here, some of them draws the explosion, everyone expresses using his style.
There are children have nightmares, other children can’t sleep, other children don’t want to go out of the house because they are afraid of an explosion.
By the way, they are the same symptoms that adults have them, everybody has the same symptoms. The explosion thundered… he is just a little child… we want to say that for all humans the explosion caused trauma for everyone. — Yousef zeichnet ein Bild – eine der Methoden, die im Bildungszentrum angewendet werden. Foto: Sam Tarling/NRC Flüchtlingshilfe

Emotionale Unterstützung

Yousef gehört zu den Hunderten Kindern, die an den von NRC Flüchtlingshilfe angebotenen Kursen für psychosoziale Betreuung teilnehmen. Diese Kurse wurden im August vergangenen Jahres als Reaktion auf die Explosion eingerichtet.

Für Kinder wie Yousef, die nahe am Zentrum der Explosion leben, sind die Nachwirkungen deutlich spürbar. Manche Kinder haben Albträume und Schlafstörungen. Manche sind sehr angespannt und haben Angst vor einer weiteren Explosion.

Kinder haben oft Schwierigkeiten, Gefühle so zu verarbeiten und zu verstehen wie Erwachsene es tun. Durch kindgerechte Aktivitäten haben unsere Kurse den Kindern von Beirut geholfen, ihre Gefühle und Ängste besser zu begreifen.

• How long have you been working for NRC? Since September
• How are the children responding to the activities they are learning at the center? “The children are responding beautifully. Each child takes it at their own pace and rhythm. The impact is positive and fruitful for the children. It gives them tools to cope better in conflict situations. How to deal with anger, how to deal wit fear how to deal with volatile thoughts with very efficient techniques.”

• What do the children tell you about the activities? “They get a lot of pleasure. They get a lot of joy, relaxation and wellbeing.”

• What are the challenges you see with the children and the experience they have gone through? “Some have been slightly injured from the explosion. Others have witnessed terrorising moments. Some tell you they had shattered glass on their feet, on their faces. But we cannot generalise, these are certain cases.”

• What does the parents of the children tell you about the impact of NRC’s activities on their children? “The parents have said to me ‘what are you doing with the children, they are transformed. What are you doing with them, we want the same thing!’ They are feeling the evolution of their child.”

Transcript of video interview with Social Emotional Support Facilitator Chadi Zein:
These activities are one of the most important things that students must learn, not only in difficult times and in the occurrence of disasters and problems. This type of classes should be practice in every school around the world in order to achieve peace in the world.
Because these activities, which they learn in these classes, allow them to discover what is happening deep inside them, and how they feel when something is happening or if they are thinking about an idea, if that idea is preferred or not, and what can I do for similar thoughts.
They are learning emotional intelligence, the feelings and the thoughts, that’s means, what I can do when I am scared or sad or angry, should I let it control me and makes me tired and sick, or I manage it in a better way by reducing it and choose what is happening inside me.
He is like a farmer who cultivates his land, he doesn’t leave the weed in his land, but he removes them. The children respond wonderfully in this context.
First of all I ask them, I know when I ask a child how did you feel before and after the activities, from time to time and according to the design of BLB, you have to ask the child: how did you feel, did you do the exercises at home or not, and what did you feel after doing the exercises? He distinguishes where he feels.
For example, this is the scale of feelings, before coming to the center, the children don’t know what they are feeling, and a child lives a state but doesn’t think about it.
As soon as he arrives in the center he learns how to think, if he is very happy or a little bit happy or a bit sad or very sad, or angry, then he learns that the feelings are normal things, they move like an ocean wave.
Sometimes, some events cause stress, what I should do to be relieved, so that these events do not disturb me much. What I should do to reduce it. They learn all of this here.
It changes their lives in certain point, I know that this thing has happened in concrete terms from what they say and they tell you.
For example I have three students in one class they are brothers, once the old brother saw his other brothers fighting, he remembered that when they get angry they can do the deep breathing and use other tools, he reminded them of that but they didn’t listen to him, he went to a safe zone and relieved, then he went in the room, he saw his brothers paintings together and stopped fighting, they were communicating between each other.
That’s because all of them used the tools that they learned here, and they used them in their daily life, without need to anybody to remind them of these tools, they remember themselves so they feel more comfortable.
Because of that, all the children must learn these type of exercises and tools, to be more satisfied and to have a valuable relationship between them and their friends, their teachers and their parents, this relationship should not be built on violence or anger etc.. But built on controlling the feelings and thoughts and to communicate through relations in a comfortable environment, which contains more dialogue.
Also it effects positively on their grades, as well as on everything they do. You asked me how do I know that. At the end of the course we speak with the parents, I ask them, did you see a progress, and they say yes we can feel a concrete progress
The explosion in Beirut has affected all of us, as adults, in our works and activities, all of us are vulnerable to trauma. It was a trauma for everyone, it was a near-death experience, and we were almost being hurt. If it affected us like this, how did it affect children? The children are fresh dewy buds; definitely they were affected by the explosion.
Someone thinks that a cloud is an explosion, another when he hears a loud sound, he thinks it is an explosion, and another if he sees smoke he thinks it is an explosion. It exists in their daily life and makes them worried, a part from what they saw, and some children saw very terrifying scenes.
Sometimes the children speak about it. In the class we respect the privacy of the child, so we don’t ask the child to tell us what has happened to him.
When we work on the events which cause stress, we mention the war and the explosion, which are among other events which happen.
There are children tell you, for example, if we do the breathing exercise or another exercise and said that it relieves us, sometimes a child come and tell you that he had pieces of glass in his leg, or he was injured, every child spontaneously tells us, I don’t go through details with him but I continue the lesson, this thing is heard and drawn.
A child drew the explosion, I am not sure if it still here, some of them draws the explosion, everyone expresses using his style.
There are children have nightmares, other children can’t sleep, other children don’t want to go out of the house because they are afraid of an explosion.
By the way, they are the same symptoms that adults have them, everybody has the same symptoms. The explosion thundered… he is just a little child… we want to say that for all humans the explosion caused trauma for everyone.

Transcript of Interview with Social emotional support facilitator Chadi Zein:
You saw how the boy participated, he was great, he reached his limit, then he moved to another place.
We wasted time on behavior issues during the last class.
Today it worked out because I made an intensive lesson about the content of the last lesson and the safe zone, because it was the occasion of prophet’s birthday, I had to do it intensive.
These activities are one of the most important things that students must learn, not only in difficult times and in the occurrence of disasters and problems. This type of classes should be practice in every school around the world in order to achieve peace in the world.
Because these activities, which they learn in these classes, allow them to discover what is happening deep inside them, and how they feel when something is happening or if they are thinking about an idea, if that idea is preferred or not, and what can I do for similar thoughts.
They are learning emotional intelligence, the feelings and the thoughts, that’s means, what I can do when I am scared or sad or angry, should I let it control me and makes me tired and sick, or I manage it in a better way by reducing it and choose what is happening inside me.
He is like a farmer who cultivates his land, he doesn’t leave the weed in his land, but he removes them. The children respond wonderfully in this context.
First of all I ask them, I know when I ask a child how did you feel before and after the activities, from time to time and according to the design of BLB, you have to ask the child: how did you feel, did you do the exercises at home or not, and what did you feel after doing the exercises? He distinguishes where he feels.
For example, this is the scale of feelings, before coming to the center, the children don’t know what they are feeling, and a child lives a state but doesn’t think about it.
As soon as he arrives in the center he learns how to think, if he is very happy or a little bit happy or a bit sad or very sad, or angry, then he learns that the feelings are normal things, they move like an ocean wave.
Sometimes, some events cause stress, what I should do to be relieved, so that these events do not disturb me much. What I should do to reduce it. They learn all of this here.
It changes their lives in certain point, I know that this thing has happened in concrete terms from what they say and they tell you.
For example I have three students in one class they are brothers, once the old brother saw his other brothers fighting, he remembered that when they get angry they can do the deep breathing and use other tools, he reminded them of that but they didn’t listen to him, he went to a safe zone and relieved, then he went in the room, he saw his brothers paintings together and stopped fighting, they were communicating between each other.
That’s because all of them used the tools that they learned here, and they used them in their daily life, without need to anybody to remind them of these tools, they remember themselves so they feel more comfortable.
Because of that, all the children must learn these type of exercises and tools, to be more satisfied and to have a valuable relationship between them and their friends, their teachers and their parents, this relationship should not be built on violence or anger etc.. But built on controlling the feelings and thoughts and to communicate through relations in a comfortable environment, which contains more dialogue.
Also it effects positively on their grades, as well as on everything they do. You asked me how do I know that. At the end of the course we speak with the parents, I ask them, did you see a progress, and they say yes we can feel a concrete progress
The explosion in Beirut has affected all of us, as adults, in our works and activities, all of us are vulnerable to trauma. It was a trauma for everyone, it was a near-death experience, and we were almost being hurt. If it affected us like this, how did it affect children? The children are fresh dewy buds; definitely they were affected by the explosion.
Someone thinks that a cloud is an explosion, another when he hears a loud sound, he thinks it is an explosion, and another if he sees smoke he thinks it is an explosion. It exists in their daily life and makes them worried, a part from what they saw, and some children saw very terrifying scenes.
Sometimes the children speak about it. In the class we respect the privacy of the child, so we don’t ask the child to tell us what has happened to him.
When we work on the events which cause stress, we mention the war and the explosion, which are among other events which happen.
There are children tell you, for example, if we do the breathing exercise or another exercise and said that it relieves us, sometimes a child come and tell you that he had pieces of glass in his leg, or he was injured, every child spontaneously tells us, I don’t go through details with him but I continue the lesson, this thing is heard and drawn.
A child drew the explosion, I am not sure if it still here, some of them draws the explosion, everyone expresses using his style.
There are children have nightmares, other children can’t sleep, other children don’t want to go out of the house because they are afraid of an explosion.
By the way, they are the same symptoms that adults have them, everybody has the same symptoms. The explosion thundered… he is just a little child… we want to say that for all humans the explosion caused trauma for everyone. — Chadi Zein erklärt den Kindern etwas über das menschliche Gehirn. Foto: Sam Tarling/NRC Flüchtlingshilfe

Emotionen verstehen lernen

Chadi Zein gehört zu unserem Team für emotionale Betreuung im NRC Flüchtlingshilfe-Bildungszentrum in Beirut. Chadi begrüßt die Kinder zu ihren zweiwöchentlichen Sitzungen mit herzlichem Enthusiasmus. Wenn die Kinder ankommen, werden sie zunächst gebeten, auf einer Skala anzugeben, wie sie sich gerade fühlen: von sehr glücklich bis sehr traurig oder wütend.

Solche Übungen helfen den Kindern, ihre Emotionen zu verstehen und zu verarbeiten, sagt Chadi.

„Bevor sie zu uns ins Bildungszentrum kommen, wissen die Kinder ihre Gefühle nicht einzuordnen. Sie können in einem bestimmten Zustand leben, aber sie sind nicht in der Lage zu verstehen, was sie fühlen“, erklärt er.

„Aber hier im Zentrum lernen sie, dass diese Gefühle normal sind. Manchmal können Ereignisse Stress auslösen. Die Kinder lernen, was sie tun können, um diesen Stress zu lindern, damit diese Ereignisse sie nicht aus der Bahn werfen. Ab einem bestimmten Punkt beginnt es, ihr Leben zu verändern.“

Lebanese and Syrian children, who were affected by the Beirut explosion, are participating in the Psychosocial support sessions implemented by the Norwegian Refugee Council to help them deal with their traumas.

Photo: Zaynab Mayladan/NRC

Die Kinder lernen, diese Bewältigungsstrategien im Alltag anzuwenden, damit sie mit stressigen Situationen umgehen können und in der Schule leistungsfähig sind.

„Die Kinder sprechen wunderbar darauf an. Jedes Kind in seinem eigenen Tempo und Rhythmus“, sagt Chadi.

„Die Wirkung für die Kinder ist positiv und gewinnbringend. Sie bekommen Werkzeuge an die Hand, um besser mit Konfliktsituationen zurechtzukommen. Um mit Wut, Angst und sprunghaften Gedanken umgehen zu lernen.“

Diese Kurse sollten überall stattfinden

Die Kurse werden für Kinder zwischen 4 und 14 Jahren angeboten. Das Gebiet, das am stärksten von der Explosion betroffen war, ist multikulturell. Bisher haben libanesische, syrische, irakische, sudanesische, palästinensische und philippinische Kinder unsere Kurse besucht. Die Eltern werden ermutigt, ihre Kinder für das Programm anzumelden, wenn sie das Gefühl haben, dass es ihnen helfen könnte.

„Eltern sagen zu mir: ‚Was machen Sie mit den Kindern? Sie sind wie verwandelt!’ Sie spüren, wie ihre Kinder sich entwickeln“, sagt Chadi stolz.

Für viele syrische Flüchtlingskinder hat die Explosion traumatische Erinnerungen an die Zeit ihrer Flucht geweckt. Darüber hinaus leiden die Kinder im Libanon (wie überall auf der Welt) an der durch die Covid-19-Pandemie verursachten Beeinträchtigungen ihres Alltags.

Chadi glaubt, dass es von unschätzbarem Wert ist, dass Kinder von klein auf lernen, mit unvorhergesehenen und traumatischen Ereignissen umzugehen.

„Diese Aktivitäten gehören zu den wichtigsten Dingen, die ein Kind lernen kann, nicht nur in schwierigen Zeiten. Solche Kurse sollten in jeder Schule rund um den Globus stattfinden. Das würde dazu beitragen, Frieden in der Welt zu schaffen.“

* * *

Unsere Reaktion auf die Explosion in Beirut wurde durch die großzügige Unterstützung durch Menschen wie Sie möglich gemacht, die unserem Spendenaufruf Folge geleistet haben. Außerdem danken wir dem Norwegischen Außenministerium, dem Auswärtigen Amt der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Europäischen Amt für humanitäre Hilfe und Katastrophenschutz für ihre Unterstützung.