Children Bearing the Burnt After the Earthquake

Baker* is not just another Syrian child who was forced to bury his family and unravel the earthquake sequences all alone. When he misses his mother, father and siblings, his only choice is to search through whatever memories he has left. He prays these memories guide him through whatever upcoming events life has to offer.

We are all humans, it’s in our nature to forget. But for Baker, doing so feels like his family never existed. What a huge burden for a 10-year-old child to bear.

The child lost his mother, father and three siblings when their sturdy home failed to withstand the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 6 February 2023. Baker survived and was rescued but now, his entire family passed away. Where is he going to live after the destruction of his house? With whom is he going to live? Who is going to take care of him? Love him like his parents did and tease him like his siblings did a couple of hours ago?

Baker’s entire world crashed down and so did thousands of other children who lost their families.

Thankfully, his uncle took him under his wing. But Baker felt more alone than ever, he carried the pain of losing his family and heartache onto his new journey.

Slowly, he began withdrawing, secluding himself in his tiny room, speaking less and less every day his uncle almost forgot Baker’s voice. He buried himself in a dark space and began wallowing in past memories when his mother used to accompany him to school, he even stopped attending. He doesn’t want to go out with friends either let alone meet new people and create new relationships.

Baker was losing himself and his uncle was in the dark, unaware of the dark conditions that’s stealing his nephew and turning him into an unrecognisable child. Psychologically, Baker was falling apart, psychically, his uncle was unable to secure basic needs due to lack of financial support and job opportunities.

Meanwhile, children all over the Northwest were picking up the pieces after they were severely affected by the earthquake. But, they need support, help and care. That’s why humanitarian agencies stepped in, providing whatever they can to stand with them.

World Vision and its four partners, Action for Humanity being one of them, intervened. They recognise the need for psychological support in such contexts. With support from UNICEF, they implement an education and protection project which creates a safe space for children to learn and heal from the catastrophe. Baker is one of the 12,000 children who will ultimately enroll in education and [6,230 others] will work through their trauma.

World Vision is Here to Support During Difficult Times

Baker is an intelligent child who loved going to school but the death of his mother made him feel he has nothing left. So he just stopped going. His teacher was very concerned with this radical change.

So, she contacted our partner as they were implementing the education project and they handled it from there. After conducting a full assessment to understand the crisis Baker went through, they established a psychological response plan.

It aimed to provide him with the emotional care he desperately needed. It started with raising his uncle’s awareness about the importance of having a safe home to return to, a trusted guardian to resort to and a decent living environment. To achieve that, they discussed consistent attention and creating a safe space for Baker to express his feeling, dangers of child neglect and how it leads to emotional distress and trauma on the long run.

Also, it was crucial that the uncle encouraged Baker to attend school which he took notice off. The next step was providing Baker with a decent living environment. World Vision and his partner, provided him with food and non-food items such as clothes and school supplies. Since then, Baker has been enrolled in school so he can resume his education, a summer camp to integrate him with children of his age.

Slowly, Baker was able to share his feelings during the psychological support sessions. The burden of losing his family began to feel lighter day by day. Living with his uncle started feeling like home and things began to get better.

Baker’s words echo the joy he feels, “I am happy now, I am back in school with my friend Saleem*, I have other friends too and we play together and I love the [psychological and education] activities”. His uncle also notices how safe his nephew feels, “when his family passed away, he used to isolate himself. But after seeing the support from protection team [from Action for Humanity], his personality is brighter, he laughs. I feel that he feels better and even enrolled back in school”.

*Name has been changed to protect identity.