Gifts
Linda Mason
Chair, Board of Directors
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Watching news coverage and listening to our team on the ground in Port-au-Prince, one heartbreaking fact keeps jumping out at me: Children are at the center of tragedy again.
These children in Gaza participated in our Comfort for Kids program in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas fighting in early 2009. Photo: Mercy Corps
Approximately half of Haiti’s population is under the age of 18, and children are much more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease than adults. While the physical needs may be striking, children’s emotional needs are just as important.
Children who have been through a trauma like this week’s earthquake need special counseling and healing. Kids look to adults for stability, and their secure, safe routines are very important. When a child sees all of the adults around her in such trauma, her world falls apart.
Children, unlike adults, do not have the experience or judgment required to process this kind of upheaval. For younger kids, this can result in feeling afraid, insecure, or displaying regressive behavior. Older kids can become withdrawn, apathetic, aggressive or anti-social; they often lose interest in school, friends or sports. Intense trauma can have life-long impact.
Mercy Corps will be helping these young, fragile survivors with Comfort for Kids, a counseling methodology developed by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons, a global workplace childcare provider. Comfort for Kids will provide psychological relief for up to 100,000 child survivors.
We know that Comfort for Kids works; it has helped thousands of kids work through trauma after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Peru (2007) and China (2008) earthquakes.
The Comfort for Kids methodology combines a trauma-training workshop for adults with an interactive workbook that helps children tell their story of the disaster, plus “comfort kits” that contain items like a blanket, a toothbrush and toothpaste and a stuffed animal.
As the board chair of Mercy Corps and the chairman and co-founder of Bright Horizons, I’m so proud to be part of this work. Comfort for Kids provides hope for children in the chaos of life post-disaster, offering them a way to talk about and work through their trauma, and ultimately, regain some kind of stability.
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Filed under
- Countries: Haiti
- Topics: Emergency response
Comments
DeAnne
January 20, 2010 12:05PM
Linda-
With all my heart, I applaud all you do for children everywhere, my son goes to a Bright Horizons school, Stuart, Florida. I was so very grateful to discover you here when I came to make a donation. These little ones need an advocate like you, I will keep them and you in my heart and my wallet will be open on a regular basis to support you in this rescue.
Go with God
DeAnne
Ari Gold
January 20, 2010 12:06PM
Linda,
I'm a filmmaker and musician interested in working with a musical instrument company (of which two are already responding to help) to bring children's instruments into Haiti so that kids can learn music. I have been to Haiti twice before but don't have any infrastructure to call on. I realize that Mercy does not accept volunteers but perhaps you can help facilitate; I don't know where else to turn. Please let me know at your earliest convenience; I have a short window of time in which I could come to distribute the instruments being provided and possibly do some basic teaching.
Ari
Val Stricklin
January 20, 2010 6:43PM
Are you accepting donations of blankets, quilts, and stuffed animals to be used with the Comfort for Kids program? I'd love to rally friends to assist with a sewing session, if you can describe what you need most.
Clarence Widerburg, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.
January 21, 2010 5:48AM
(1) I am a retired social worker, currently not working, except to do advocacy.
I am interested in helping on projects such as comfort for kids. I have had some trauma training.
(2) I have donated to Mercy Corps relief fund and also contribute on a monthly basis. I have also contributed to the Humane Society of the United States to rescue animals which help not only the animals, but help victims, such as children, have hope for their pets. This also reduces the risk of disease in the community. I am wondering if you are coordinating your efforts with the Animal Rescue Coalition. If children knew that there is an effort to save pets, this could be therapeutic.
Thank you,
Clarence Widerburg, M.S.W.
Licensed Clnical Social Worker (Oregon)
Janelle
June 14, 2010 9:33AM
Hi Ari,
I'm not sure where you're at in your idea for supporting a music program for kids in Haiti, but I would like to talk to you about your vision. Perhaps we can create some miracles together.
Please contact me.
j
Todd Ruth
January 20, 2010 9:52AM
Do you need anymore volunteers to travel down to Haiti to help with the kids?