SA toys for tsunami kids

2005-03-22 00:14

Kim Snyders

Johannesburg - "I know you have lost everything and I cannot replace anything, but I think maybe this teddy bear can keep you warm and safe at night."

Thus reads the comforting message to one of the children still living with the memory and the results of the tsunamis that devastated large parts of southeast Asia.

Children from all over South Africa have donated more than 2 000 soft toys and messages for Indonesian children.

J News, a newspaper more than 150 schools are subscribed to, launched the initiative shortly after the tsunamis.

Mareli Louw, editor of J News said: "We wanted to motivate the children to make a contribution. They could either buy a teddy bear or donate one of their own and write a message to go with it.

Global Relief, a non-government organisation that provides aid to countries hit by natural disasters, publishes the newspaper.

The organisation has been working in Indonesia since December, where medical staff and engineers are helping the country regain its footing.

Bertus Louw, trauma counsellor with the NGO, who is working in Indonesia, says Global Relief is trying to instil new hope in tsunami victims by means of counselling.

Louw said: "We realised that Indonesian children needed help most, because this country was hardest hit."

"Since the parents are also traumatised, many of them cannot help their children. The children then develop post-traumatic stress."

Group therapy with hand puppets and pictures is used to get the children to talk about their experience and how they feel about it.

"One girl told me in tears how she had been holding on to her brother's hand, but that the current was too strong and swept him away.

"Another child told us about his nightmares about corpses trying to grab him."

Louw said parents often reported to therapists that their children were happy for the first time in weeks after the sessions.

Global Relief and Unicef have been requested by the education department of Meulaboh in Indonesia to train teachers to do trauma counselling.

The team returns to Indonesia on Tuesday to continue their work. The toys will then be distributed.

- Beeld