Awareness blossomes during psychosocial support sessions
Lina is one of the most enthusiastic children who is taking part in the Psychosocial Support sessions implemented by Terre des Hommes in Lebanon.
Lina always enters Terre des Hommes center in Beirut with a smile on her face.
The 14-year-old arrived to Lebanon with her family in 2013 following the unrest situation in Syria.
During the Psychosocial Support sessions, Lina actively participates in the group discussions, puppet shows, games, and puzzle-solving sessions which revolve around awareness topics such as bullying, harassment, and exploitation. “I feel safe and relieved when I go to the center, I love all the activities we do there” she exclaims. As for her relationship with the facilitators, she adds “We talk as friends”.
Asked about her point of view on bullying Lina affirms: “It is something bad, it hurts the feelings of the other individual”. She adds that she personally doesn’t pay attention to bullying comments. To her friends she says: “We should put ourselves in the shoes of the other person.
What would we do if we got bullied?
The young girl supports diversity in expression: “this is your point of view and we should respect the freedom of the others.”
Taking part in the Focused Psychosocial Support sessions has served Lina in her social development, whereby she has now a long list of friends whom she met at the center.
She brings home what she has learned from the sessions, replaying the same games, especially the one related to the awareness of COVID-19 precautional measure.
According to the program facilitator, Lina’s enthusiasm is always visible during the sessions.
She is eager to bring up ideas to discuss. She is highly engaged and always interested in the topics in advance. In case she is unable to attend the session the upcoming week, she asks the facilitator to discuss the topic with her in advance and provide her with insights.
After the explosion on August 4th, 2020 in Beirut, Terre des Hommes has started its response immediately after the blast in support of children in the area. Currently, Terre des Hommes is implementing Psychosocial Support sessions during the lockdown period in Lebanon under the project “Lebanon 2020: Supporting vulnerable boys, girls and caregivers, affected by the Beirut Blast”, funded by the Netherland Emergency Appeals Alliance (GIRO 555). Since the start of the project, 523 affected children have been engaged in Terre des Hommes recreational activities and 115 have been provided with Psychosocial Support activities.