1.5 MiB - Children for Tomorrow

Newsletter April 2012
F O U N D AT I O N
U N D E R
C I V I L
L A W
Y
A
D
O
T
About us
The Foundation
Executive Committee
Children for Tomorrow is a non-profit foundation with the aim of supporting and
initiating projects that provide assistance to children and families who are victims of
war, persecution, and violence. The foundation has been established as a result of
many years of contact between Stefanie Graf, medical doctors of the Outpatient Clinic
for Refugee Children and their Families at the University Clinics of Hamburg-Eppendorf as well as meetings with representatives from the World Health Organization
(WHO) and Unicef.
Stefanie Graf
CEO
Advisory Committee
Former Federal President
Dr. Richard v. Weizsäcker
Former President of the University
Hamburg, Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Lüthje
Dr. Custodia Mandlhate, WHO representative
for mental health, southern Africa
Sabine Christiansen
Krista Sager,
Member of the German Federal Parliament
Rolf Hunck, Deutsche Bank AG
Management
Stephanie Hermes
Prof. Michael
Schulte-Markwort
Deputy Chairman
Board of Trustees
Dr. Andreas Rittstieg
Thomas Külpmann
Prof. Franz Resch
Prof. Dr. Jörg F. Debatin
We would like to introduce
Dr. Fionna Klasen
Fionna Klasen
Fionna Klasen, who has a doctorate in psychology, has
been working for “Children for Tomorrow” for the last
seven years. She is in charge of the project in Uganda as
well as the Research Centre. While her main responsibility in Uganda is project coordination and planning, at the
Research Centre she carries out scientific research into
the mental health of war-traumatized children.
traumatologie (Award of the German-Speaking Association of Psychotraumatology) in March 2012 for her scientific work on child soldiers.
She has been setting up psychological and medical facilities for the treatment of former child soldiers together
with her team in Uganda since 2009. “Meanwhile the situation is relatively quiet, and I am delighted that our
ambulance is constantly growing but there remains a lot
to be done,” says Ms Klasen. She was awarded the Förderpreis der Deutschsprachigen Gesellschaft für Psycho-
Last year 720 children took part in her survey about the
long-term consequences of war and their current health
situation. Klasen is currently examining a brand new
approach to reduce children’s trauma symptoms. “I hope
that our research benefits the health care of war-traumatized children.”
Apart from working in Uganda she is a firm believer of
research since “we can only do our work properly by
constantly checking the quality of our approaches.”
Chronicle Children for Tomorrow
1998 1999
2000
2001 2006
2009
2011
2012
Foundation and start of the Outpatient Clinic for Refugee Children, Hamburg
Project South Africa
Project Kosovo
Art therapeutic Atelier, Hamburg
Project Eritrea
Project Uganda
2
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
Opening of the Foundation’s headquarters, Hamburg
The year 2011 ended with a special honour: in November “Children
for Tomorrow” was awarded the Marion Dönhoff Förderpreis for
global understanding and reconciliation.
The jury argued that “In the international projects children and
adolescents who are traumatized by escape and persecution are
supported in learning how to deal with their experiences. This is an
outstanding example of future-oriented engagement.” Our Deputy
Chairmen Professor Jörg Fischer and Professor Jörg Debatin accepted the award which is endowed with 25.000 Euro at a festive event
in the Schauspielhaus Hamburg.
I would like to express my special gratitude to the jury and the ZEIT
readers for this exceptional award which will motivate us to continue our work in the future.
About us
Editorial
Dear friends of ‘Children for Tomorrow’,
it has been a year since we moved into our own new headquarters.
We can now look back on eventful months which laid out the foundation for our future work. Patients as well as therapists have now
settled in; our psychotherapies, art therapies and psychosocial programmes take place in a friendly and light environment. Our house
has become a welcoming meeting place. Currently most refugee
children come from Afghanistan, Somalia, Guinea and the Balkan
States – they all find a new home in our headquarters, a home in
which they are listened to and in which they are not only free but
also have the environment to talk about their fears.
Social workers, interpreters, family members and our cooperation
partners also enjoy calling in to meet likeminded colleagues and to
discuss ideas and thoughts.
The festive Marion Dönhoff Award ceremony with Prof. Debatin
and Prof. Fischer (left to right)
Last but not least, I would like to welcome our new deputy chairman, Professor Michael Schulte-Markwort to our foundation. He
has been responsible for the thematic focus of the foundation since
January. I am very grateful that “Children for Tomorrow” will benefit
from the support of such a multi-qualified personality as Professor
Schulte-Markwort and I am looking forward to working with him.
This summer I shall once again be joining my colleagues at the
foundation’s headquarters in Hamburg. I am looking forward to interesting conversations and I promise to keep you updated about
all developments on our website and in our newsletter.
I would like to thank all friends and supporters for their loyal support!
Yours
Stefanie Graf
Founder/CEO
Our patients show us where their home country
is on a wall map in our waiting room.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
3
A talk with...
… our mentors
In January 2012, “Children for Tomorrow“ started a comprehensive
mentor programme. Interested students have the opportunity to do
an internship and work as mentors for our refugee children. With this
they support our psychosocial programmes “Hamburg Guide” which
helps children to orientate themselves in Hamburg, “CfT macht Klasse” (psychosocial programme in schools), “Deutsch-Club”, “Komm,
mach Mathe” (German club and maths club) and “CfT-Knirpse am
Morgen” (play group for toddlers and their parents).
Maren Bollin, 24, and Ricarda Weil, 23, study Psychology and Sophie
van de Vyver, 22, studies Ethnology. They started working as supervisors for the “Hamburg Guide“ in February. The interview was carried
out by Sarah Barth, head of psychosocial programmes at CfT.
What was your motivation to become engaged in working with
refugee children at “Children for Tomorrow?”
What is the background story of the Hamburg Guide?
Bollin: Refugee children who arrive in Hamburg have a hard time
finding their way around. I believe one reason for this is that a big
city like Hamburg is hard to understand when you come from a
different cultural background. The refugees have no experience
with the layout of German cities, administration or infrastructure
simply because their background is completely different. One consequence of ignorance is passivity. How should they come up with
the idea to go somewhere when they neither know that it exists
nor know how to get there? This is aggravated by the unawareness
of their rights and possibilities. For them it is hard to imagine that
they can participate in sports programmes for free or spend their
leisure time in youth clubs. We would like to show them their options and encourage them to make use of the offers.
Van de Vyver: I used to live abroad when I was young and I can
clearly remember the feeling of being foreign to a new culture. I
believe that I can understand the refugees better because of this
background.
Weil: I am fascinated by what the refugee children are achieving
despite their previous experiences. Working with them is extremely
important since they normally don’t get much public attention.
Van de Vyver: The refugees find it
hard to integrate into the new culture and even harder to leave
their newly encountered comfort zone. We would like to help them
to lose the fear of a big city and help them to find their way
around.
Weil: One consequence of not knowing what life is like in a German
city is that the adolescents stay in their rooms simply because they
are afraid. But young people should be encouraged to build up
their self esteem. For this they need to make their own experiences,
master challenges and above all, find friends outside the family
circle.
4
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
How do you turn these ideas into reality in the programme
“Hamburg Guide”?
Bollin: Our main aim is to guide the participating refugee children
towards a feeling of autonomy. They should experience that they
are safe and that they can find their own way around Hamburg
without being harmed. We hope that their damaged feeling of
control will improve through orientation and independence. They
also meet likeminded people of the same age with similar backgrounds which gives them the chance to have fun and find friends
at the same time. We believe that this eventually leads to integration.
Van de Vyver: In this context, integration means finding orientation. This allows permanent mobility and independence. In addition,
the teenagers should have the chance to enjoy the city. This includes learning how to use the offers for their leisure time, information
and support. Above all, participation in our project involves experiencing new things, meeting open-minded people, developing their
personalities and getting to know German culture and the way of
life here.
Weil: It was not too hard to find cooperation partners who trusted
in the programme. So far we have started long-term cooperation
partnerships with the “Stiftung Öffentlicher Bücherhallen Hamburg“ (Foundation of Public Libraries, Hamburg) and the “Bowlingcenter USPlay“. The “Abaton“- Cinema, “Hamburg-Museum”, the Ministry of Culture Office for the Protection of Historic Buildings and
the Town Hall Hamburg offer unique tours for our refugee teenagers. The “Kaifu Swimming Pool” offers free swimming lessons to
the refugees who are often afraid of water as many of them could
not swim when they escaped by boat.
Bollin: The Hamburg Guide is planned as a permanent offer, therefore we are interested in long-term cooperation partnerships. We
also hope that the cooperation partners will support us in focussing attention on the problematic situations of the refugee children
in Hamburg.
A talk with...
… our Mentors
We would like to thank our cooperation partners
How does the “Hamburg Guide” work in detail?
Van de Vyver: Around 15 refugee teenagers, aged between 14 and
18, participate for three months in our Hamburg Guide. The programme offers weekly meetings and cultural events. Of course all
our excursions are free of charge.
Weil: In order to guarantee sustainability for the programme we
ask the teenagers to write diaries about the excursions.
Who were you able to win over as cooperation partners so far?
Van de Vvyer: Our cooperation partners are information centres,
public institutions and leisure-time agencies. The teenagers should
have fun and learn where to find help in case of emergency.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
5
From our guestbook
6
Outpatient clinic, Hamburg
Translation:
Life passes in a w
hiff
Life is tough
My destiny
Is transient
Don’t put effort in
to it
This is a rock hard
life
I hope you fall in
love one day.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
Translation:
I am fed up with my life.
I have no chance at all.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
From our guestbook
Outpatient clinic, Hamburg
7
News from the projects
8
Outpatient Clinic Hamburg
Expression painting in art therapies
Mareike Röwekamp, art therapist at the outpatient clinic for refugee
children.
The outpatient clinic offers individual art therapies with the focus on
expression painting for refugee children in addition to individual
counselling. The department is headed by the art therapist Mareike
Röwekamp. Art therapies seek to offer creative approaches to overcome the refugee children’s traumas by concentrating on ego stabilising, identity strengthening and resource-oriented methods.
History and method of expression painting
Expression painting was
founded by Arno Stern
who suffered from war and
expulsion himself. He later
realised the importance of
expression painting for
traumatized children in his
work at a children’s home.
He set fixed criteria for expression painting: the walls
are lined with poplar wood
on which large sheets of
paper are attached. The
children stand while they
paint. Close by is a large
table with colourful qualitative colours. The table
serves as meeting point
since the children help themselves to colours, chat a bit and return
to their piece of work. The rules for use of the materials create order
and structure. This structure enhances the joy of using the materials. Expression painting is a creative game with paints and brushes,
there are no set topics or requirements. Everybody can paint whatever they want, no previous knowledge or talent is required, the
paintings are not compared or interpreted in the group and there
is no competition between the children.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
Expression painting with refugee children
The majority of refugee children at the outpatient clinic do not
speak German but expression painting enables them to communicate nonverbally. The essential terms can be learnt quickly and are
practised over the course of the painting session. Each beginning
of a group is marked by a chat with the parents or social workers. It
is possible to invite an interpreter during the introduction in order
to explain the rules of the game to the children. Working with refugee children requires particular attention: the setting needs to be
spacious in order to offer sufficient space, openness and orientation to the children. If they wish, they can withdraw and find a distance to their visual expression. The difficult living conditions of
refugee children, such as impending deportation or limited educational opportunities, often result in a feeling of insecurity, fear of
the future, no perspective and a feeling of being not welcomed.
By working with art therapies and expression painting in particular,
children experience the opposite: they find themselves in a safe
environment and have the chance to work creatively and develop
their talents. Children can differentiate their visual expression individually in expression painting. The art therapist is present and attentive at all times. She supports the children in their painting and
workflow. The therapist’s attention helps the children to feel safe
and protected. Only in this environment can a space be created
that leaves room for various feelings that range from fear, anger,
sadness, powerlessness, but also joy, hope and trust.
Dear friends of “Children for Tomorrow!“
We are in the middle of preparing the annual summer friendship mean to me? We do special exercises and
games in Rahovec which is around 20 kilometres east of games in Albanian and Serbian and they become more
Gjakova. They have become very popular in Kosovo over the familiar with each other every day.
years. We aim to bring children from Albania and Serbia
together and contribute to reconciliation between those Our summer games take place in the Serbian part of
two ethnic groups with our games. Albanians and Serbs the city for one week and in the Albanian part for the
have been living in two separated parts of the city since other. In the beginning, the children are often afraid to
the end of the war in 1999. It is difficult to establish
communication between the two groups. All children suffered from violence in the war, they were persecuted and
many of them lost relatives.
We would therefore love to offer a safe environment to
the children in Rahovec where they experience equality,
communication and the chance to learn from each other.
In addition, we hope that they will learn to respect differences and communalities between ethnic
groups. Each year, we
take children for eight
weeks to Rahovec, and
each week has a different motto, e.g. what
is a safe place for me?
How do I react to
anger and fear? What
does trust and
Mailbox
letter from GJakova, kosovo
go to the other, unfamiliar part of the city. But after
a while they calm down and start trusting us. They
become more open and friendly towards each other,
start talking and listening to each other. The summer
games have proven to be very successful in the peace
process. Children reduce their prejudices and the distance between them and the others on a daily basis.
Many children have never had the chance to experience
anything like this before. They always find new friends
during the summer games in Rahovec.
Urim Deva, head of the Kosovo project
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
9
News from the projects
uganda
James Okello, Katharina Kiemer
and Fionna Klasen at their school project
Start of the school programme in Uganda
Fionna Klasen, head of the project in Uganda
It has been almost three years since “Children for Tomorrow“ opened the outpatient clinic in the local hospital in Gulu/Northern
Uganda. We offer help and support for ever more traumatized
children and their families. Our team consists of a doctor, two psychologically trained nurses and one psychologist. After the start of
the ceasefire six years ago, the rebels retreated to the Congo and
the Central African Republic and many families were able to leave
the refugee camps and return to their villages. Although they are
now able to work their fields again, the 20 years of war have left
deep marks and the economic, psychological and societal rebuilding will take several decades.
However, many children who would need help cannot make it to
our outpatient clinic. Parents and teachers often do not know that
children can suffer from mental problems. The very authoritarian
educational system punishes misbehaviour in most cases quite
drastically. That misbehaviour can be a symptom of traumatic experiences is generally unknown here. In particular, introverted symptoms such as depression or anxiety are not perceived as problems
at all. Even if parents understood the problematic situation, many
families could not afford the transport to our outpatient clinic if
they lived outside of Gulu. Therefore “Children for Tomorrow” seeks
to work directly in local schools and has mapped out the “strong
minds” programme. We are grateful for the immense help and support of Katharina Kiemer, a school psychologist from Munich, who
supported us during her two month internship in Uganda.
Many but by no means all children go to school in Uganda although the government introduced seven years of compulsory and
free schooling in 1997. Yet only around 40% of all children do not
drop out and a mere 25% continue with secondary education.
10
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
We studied international literature intensely and spoke to the social worker Sarah Barth of “Children for Tomorrow” about our
school programme. We then drew on local teachers in Uganda and
asked them which elements and topics should be included in a
school programme here. The interviews quickly revealed that little
is known about the reasons, diagnosis and treatments of psychological problems and that many people have prejudices towards
psychiatric institutions. Therefore we decided to focus on psycho
education, namely information and knowledge transfer as a core
task without leaving prevention and resources strengthening aside.
In addition to informing about numerous problems like depression,
aggressive behaviour, alcohol and drugs, the written brochure also
includes various didactic approaches and information for parents
as well as teachers.
During the first sessions we focus on the children’s perception of
health and illness and the influence on wellbeing. The children are
encouraged to talk about their experiences with stress, violence,
war traumas and other consequences in the consecutive sessions.
After that we explain the resulting symptoms of traumatizing experiences such as nightmares, headache, abnormal behaviour or alcohol abuse which children and adolescents can suffer from. Children
then contribute their ideas to supporting other children in their
striving for help when they suffer from problems.
In addition to the knowledge transfer of our “strong minds” programme, we focused on the flexible use of the pedagogically important units such as games, discussions, relaxation exercises or
exemplifying scenarios. It was also necessary to keep the various
conditions within the schools in mind. For this we further included
several optional approaches which e.g. focus on school-based support for traumatized children.
Katharina met the team in Uganda regularly over the past weeks to
check back if the topics, contents and language meet the Ugandan
cultural requirements. Now it is time to see if the programme works.
School classes in Uganda are fairly big, with often more than 50
pupils, which is a challenge in itself.
We focus on working with the children directly yet we have to consider that they are embedded in their environment. We therefore
developed modules for teachers and parents as well. Workshops
will inform parents and teachers about psychological problems
children suffer from, and we will also present and discuss ideas
which enhance health within the families or schools.
To guarantee the sustainability of the programme we wish that
every school opens a “strong minds club”. Dedicated students will
increase their knowledge about mental health under the supervision of “Children for Tomorrow” and set up information events within
the schools, plan activities and peer-to-peer support. Following an
English role model for the support of refugee children we also wish
to establish close contact to a teacher at the school who can serve
as liaison teacher for pupils, parents and other teachers.
In 2006, after the end of the 20 years of war in Uganda, I interviewed 330 former child soldiers about their experiences and symptoms. The result was that more than 60% of the children need
treatment since they suffered from psycho-pathological symptoms
like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The head of the school was enthusiastic about our programme and
two weeks ago we started our programme at the school. It will take
place once a week over the next year. In addition to that we offer
drop-in consultation hours for students and teachers.
So far we were able to employ a new team member for our new
school programme. Yet many schools are in need of such a programme that strengthens mental health, identifies severely traumatized children and guides them towards help.
A social worker in Uganda costs 200 Euros per month. Please
support us in employing more social workers in order to help
more children by donating money to our foundation’s bank
account with the keyword “Uganda”
By establishing a liaison teacher and the “strong minds club” it
could be possible that “Children for Tomorrow” hands over the reins
of running programmes for mental programmes to the local
schools in the long term.“Children for Tomorrow” could counsel the
schools for some time afterwards and then move on to focus on the
next school.
News from the projects
uganda
While I was in Uganda in February 2012 we interviewed several
candidates for our school programmes. Patrick Okori, a highly motivated psychologist from Kampala in his early twenties joined our
team and is currently being trained by Katharina for his future work
in the schools. She taught him the didactical aspects, such as the
planning of school lessons, the motivation of students, different
learning approaches, how to guide a group of students, lead a conversation and listen actively. His clinical training will take place at
our outpatient clinic under the supervision of our psychiatrist, James Okello.
In search of a school for our programme we visited the Laroo Boarding Primary School for War-Affected Children while I was there.
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY
11
At a glance
Hamburg
Kosovo
Eritrea
Uganda
ContaCt
Donations
„Children for Tomorrow“
Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Martinistr. 52 / Kinderweg 1, Gebäude O44
20246 Hamburg
Have you thought of becoming a supporter of Children for Tomorrow? Your donation makes it possible for children to have a fair
chance at proper development
Tel: +49 (0)40-47 19 308-10
Fax: +49 (0)40-47 19 308-25
Mail: info@children-for-tomorrow.de
Internet: www.children-for-tomorrow.de
Account holder: Children for Tomorrow
Account number: 070 7000, BLZ: 200 700 00
IBan: DE49 2007 0000 0070 7000 00
Swift Code: DEUTDEHHXXX
Deutsche Bank, Hamburg
For donation receipts please include your full name and address
(in capital letters) on the bank transfer form. For donations of more than 200 Euros a donation receipt will be sent automatically if
your address is included. Of course you also have the opportunity
to donate online. Please use our donation account at the “Bank für
Sozialwirtschaft.” Refer to our website for more information: www.
children-for-tomorrow.de
Impressum
We would like to express our deepest thanks to all our
supporters and sponsors as well as to our charity staff for
their lasting commitment.
Produced and published by: Children for Tomorrow, Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts, Martinistraße 52, Kinderweg 1,
Haus O44, 20246 Hamburg, Telefon +49 (0)40 47 19 308 10, Fax + (0)40 47 19 308 25, [www.children-for-tomorrow.de]
Editorial management: Stephanie Hermes
Staff: Sarah Barth, Maren Bollin, Urim Deva, Birgit Kahle [www.birgitkahle.com],
Fionna Klasen, Mareike Röwekamp, Sophie van de Vyver, Ricarda Weil
Credits: Klasen (cover, p. 2, S. 10/11), CfT (p. 2, 3), DIE ZEIT (p. 3), Barth (p. 4/5), Röwekamp (p. 8), Deva (p. 9)
Design: Design Labor, Britta Stahl, Mannheim [www.design-labor.de], Translation: Jennifer Bligh, München
Print: Karl Bergmann & Sohn KG [www.bergmann-sohn.de] Circulation: 1.000 exemplars, subject to alterations
12
April 2012 Children for Tomorrow TODAY