BOSTON, Davao Oriental, Philippines — The child day-care center has been temporarily repaired after the typhoon destroyed much of the building. It still has a gaping hole in its ceiling, its plywood boards are swollen and the paint is still peeling.
The homes around this play school have been devastated and the backyard is still flooded with the stench of stagnant water wafting in with the breeze. Coconut trees still lay where they fell, and household debris is gathered in piles, waiting to be collected. However, the children inside the little wood framed center seem oblivious to all of the destruction around them as they run around, sing songs, and dance as teacher Jocelyn Butulan takes them through special classes in a post-typhoon world.
UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) has been supporting day care workers and community volunteers by giving them strategies to teach children to ‘manage their own behavior’ through the profound stresses they face. UNICEF, working with partner NGO Plan International, trained the day care workers over three days to also recognize the telltale signs of stress in the children they look after. Now, these key caregivers can either support the children themselves, or in more serious cases refer them to professional support, if needed.
Jocelyn is taking the children through a series of activities to help the children re-connect with the positive memories they had of their environment before the typhoon.
“My own two children, who are eight and three years old, have been terrified of the wind and the rain since the typhoon,†says Jocelyn. She describes how her own bamboo house was blown away: “That night, we had all run to the house of my mother-in-law who lives nearby. At 5 a.m. by torchlight, we all watched our own home being destroyed,†relates Jocelyn, an education graduate and day care worker. The next morning, we went to where my house once was. Everything was buried under mud; my children’s clothes and toys were all gone. It was devastating. But it’s okay because we are all okay. I am so thankful that we are all okay.â€
Jocelyn describes how some families have had no choice but to stay on their land where their houses once stood. She says that during the typhoon, people had to stay in their concrete comfort room buildings (toilets) while their bamboo houses were being blown away. “Now they only have tarpaulin sheets to sleep under,†she says.
Butulan says that she came to the three-day psychosocial session because the municipal government told her about it and she wanted to support those children who have become emotional in the aftermath of the disaster.
The special classes help children verbalize and act out positive feelings, and help them regain a sense of normalcy, dignity, and hope even in the midst of emergency.
“With all the devastation around them, children can be concerned about the destruction of their surroundings and environment. This can be very upsetting. But, through the routine of story telling, arts, and music, we can help them remember the good things about their surroundings — re-connecting them to animals and nature,†says Rohannie Baraguir, UNICEF Child Protection officer.
The teachers reinforce these positive memories by helping children to choose good behavior and express happy feelings, which are effective coping skills after something as dramatic as a typhoon. For many children here, the typhoon cost them their homes, schools, and social support networks; some have lost relatives and friends, many have been displaced elsewhere.
Like Jocelyn’s children, many children affected by the typhoon have become fearful of the wind and the rain — which have continued to batter affected areas for the last month. At the session, the day care workers and community volunteers learned a song about the rain, comparing the drops to positive things like mango ice cream and sweets.
“I went home yesterday from my training and taught my own two kids, who have been terrified of rain and thunder, The Raindrop
Song. They were so happy and when it rained they wanted to go out with their mouths open and catch the raindrops. It’s going to help them forget about their fears eventually,†she points out.