Tanks and helicopters. And then houses destroyed and dead bodies everywhere. As the conflict in Ukraine enters its ninth week, children fleeing the country recount the devastating impact the war is having on their mental health in a series of drawings.
More than 5 million people, including 2,8 million children, have left Ukraine since the start of the war. 2,3 million are still there, while over 500 have been killed or injured. In nine weeks of conflict, the Romanian border alone would have been crossed by over 750 refugees. And here, a series of structures welcome children on the run. Who put all their pain on a piece of paper.
The silent suffering of Ukrainian children under the bombs of the adult war
As soon as the first families from Ukraine began to cross the border with Romania, a child-friendly space was set up in the largest railway station in Bucharest, a transit point every day for thousands of refugees. It is a play area where the little ones can find some relief and distraction.
The children's first drawings, as reported by Save the Children workers, clearly highlighted the trauma they had suffered and are trying to process.
Hilda, 12, drew one crying woman dressed in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, next to a faceless gray soldier, as bombs fall from a plane. One child used a red crayon to portray himself leaving his home as an unidentified object falls from the sky. Yet another drew two tanks rolling across the page. Finally, there are those who have drawn two women, one of whom is lying on the ground.
©Save the Children
©Save the Children
©Save the Children
In addition to drawings documenting the horrors of war, children arriving in Bucharest from Ukraine portray their homes or images that symbolize their arrival in Romania.
Such as 8-year-old Maryska, who intertwined the Ukrainian and Romanian flags with hearts and messages of support. Arterm and Marynia, on the other hand, have drawn hearts that hold hands in the colors of the two flags.
©Save the Children
©Save the Children
©Save the Children
Children's drawings are a means by which they express their feelings about what they have experienced during the past nine weeks. Many of those who come to our child-friendly space in Bucharest are scared and terrified and don't know how to express these emotions. These are thoughts that can be very confusing and difficult for children to process, explains Save the Children psychologist Esperanza Leal Gil.
©Save the Children
©Save the Children
The child's reaction - he added - depends on age. The most common emotions they may experience after experiencing conflict and flight are the fear of being hurt or abandoned. The most common emotions range from sadness to guilt, from anger to impotence for what happened. These reactions are normal in this type of situation. The most important thing is to offer children a safe and secure space where they can express their fears and concerns. Drawing and play therapy helps little ones to release stress and anxiety, after seeing things in Ukraine that no child should ever see. Every war is a war against children.
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Fonte: Save the Children
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