With courage against despair

Many co-workers from SOS Children's Villages have to work under extreme conditions. At the same time, they have a huge responsibility for the lives of others. One of them is Mohamed Shalaalde, director of SOS Children's Village Bethlehem. SOS Children's Village in Bethlehem - Photo: T. Brandi Week long curfews, being constantly under siege, daily scenes of violence and military intervention are all a real test for all those who live and work in the SOS Children's Villages in the Palestinian territories. The adults have to strike a balance between excessive demands of their own in dealing with the crisis and the task of giving the children as much safety and confidence as possible. Mohamed Shalaalde reports on this daily feat. "Our country went through hard times in the past two years. The most difficult and worst time was a forty-day period in which a 24 hour-curfew was imposed on our people. The city looked like a ghost town. Soldiers stormed houses day or night in search of weapons. Tanks and army vehicles stormed the city and airplanes bombed sites. Destruction was all over. Our city was cut off from other cities. Once every four days, people were allowed to go out for a few hours to buy food whenever available. This situation was also a source of deep worry for us in the children's village, for example in the eventuality of a medical emergency. Our children's greatest fear is that the army could storm the village. Thankfully, none such events happened because SOS Children's Villages gives a deep sense of security and is respected in my country as an international organisation. I make special note of thanks and appreciation to our co-workers in a neighbour city, who contacted us and inquired about our state and well-being. They assured us of their goodwill and extended the same to the children's village. This gave us a sense of strength and assurance of our unity in our common cause - our children, mothers and co-workers. Photo: T. Brandi What did we do during those forty days? Children have to learn to play in order to preserve a feeling of childhood. Adults need diversion to relax. We had to make use of our little available means to keep our children healthy. Most co-workers were unable to work. Two of our mothers had to do the hard work. They declined to have their leave and be separated from their children in these difficult times. They baked bread as bakeries were closed. They rushed to market in the two hours when curfew was lifted, to buy food or whatever was available. But that was not all. They had to reassure the children that their reactions to the unusual and stressful realities of the present were normal. Some children started to wet their beds. Some woke up at night shaking in fear from nightmares and sudden explosions. Our children's games took the shape of war between two parties. They showed verbally and even physically aggressive tendencies. The closure of territories made it impossible for the children to visit their natural relatives. They had looked forward to making these visits during school holidays. A specialist doctor was asked to come and talk to our mothers. We were assured that our children with stress and trauma cases will be attended to immediately. Otherwise, left to their own thoughts and world, they would develop attitudes of mistrust. Left unattended, they will develop aggressive and even anti-social behaviours when they become adults. Thanks to our SOS mothers, together with professional help, our children are coping well in the midst of chaos and destruction. At the end of the seize, all our children, youth and graduates are safe. It is our hope that real peace prevails in our region so that our children will grow up in safety, living normal lives with their family."