GiftsBy Steve Beaven
The Oregonian, February 4, 2010
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For nearly a month, search-and-rescue crews have combed the ruins of Haiti, pulling survivors from the rubble and clearing debris.
This week, trainers affiliated with Portland-based Mercy Corps took on a new task: helping community leaders aid the country's youngest victims.
The Comfort for Kids program is designed to teach adults how to help children overcome the emotional trauma caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people.
The program includes training for grown-ups, a workbook for children and "comfort kits" with blankets, toothbrushes, toys, paper, crayons and pens.
In Haiti, the first training session was Thursday and included about 40 teachers, nurses and day care providers.
The training is in French and Creole, and the hope is that the people who attend the first sessions will train others.
Comfort for Kids was used after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. If those catastrophes are any guide, the training will continue long after Haiti begins rebuilding.
"This will go on for months and months," said Linda Mason, chairwoman of the Mercy Corps board. "The need is so vast."
Comfort for Kids was developed after 9/11 by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a Massachusetts-based workplace day care provider that Mason founded.
The goal was to provide emotional support for youngsters by helping them express their fear and anxiety.
But it's not a counseling program, said Griffen Samples, who is launching the Comfort for Kids effort in Port-au-Prince.
"We are trying to minimize the number of kids who are going to suffer long-term and who will need mental health counseling," Samples said in a telephone interview from Haiti.
Perhaps most importantly, Comfort for Kids is helping adults recognize children's stress and despair.
Many of the clues are obvious: confusion, anger, grief. Some kids develop a fear of strangers or dark places, according to psychologist Carol Dell'Oliver, who helped write the children's workbook that will be used in Haiti. There are also signs of regression, such as bed-wetting.
Youngsters sometimes express their emotions in ways different from adults.
"Children don't talk things out," Samples said. "They express it through their behavior. They express it through their play and the pictures they draw."
After 9/11, Samples said, some kids built toy towers and knocked them down.
The trauma caused by the terrorist attacks and other disasters is similar to what children are experiencing in Haiti. The symptoms can vary with age. But some of the most common fears are of loud noises, being inside buildings or being left alone by parents. There's also the fear of another earthquake.
In addition to training adults, Comfort for Kids will offer workbooks in Creole that encourage children to express those fears. The books include plenty of graphics for younger children and those who can't read.
The workbooks are designed to help youngsters tell their own stories about the earthquake in writing and through art, Dell'Oliver said in an e-mail. Organizers also hope to organize community activities such as sports and concerts to help ease the burden.
Although the initial work will focus on Port-au-Prince, the program probably will be expanded to other parts of Haiti.
"We're very open," Mason said. "We'll follow the need."
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