https://youtu.be/5-dEefh1G-M
(Eagle News) — A girl weeps as she tries to draw a tragic scene that she witnessed in her well-loved home city of Marawi. She bows her head, drawing her knees close to her body, and sobs, holding a pencil and a pad paper. She doesn’t want to look up.
Her once peaceful environment was shattered when Islamist terrorists — combined forces of Maute rebels, the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) — barged into the city, taking its residents by surprise.
The terrorists wore black and shouted they were ISIS. They held civilians as hostages and occupied establishments, as they flew the black ISIS flag, striking fear among the peace-loving residents.
And young children were the most traumatized.
Here in Pantar Central Elementary School in Lanao del Norte, some of the displaced children of Marawi City are being given stress debriefing exercises, and one of the effective outlets is by putting on paper what they saw and felt.
There were times, they would think for a while and cry, as they remember that moment of fear and anxiety — not knowing whether they could get out of the city alive or if they can go back to their city again, without feeling that fear.
Some were even afraid to go to school, even if they have already left Marawi City.
Jahara Macaraya, an elementary teacher at Pantar Central School, recounts how one of the evacuee-pupils came to them afraid of enrolling in Grade 6.
“Takot daw siya sa grade 6 pumasok. Bakit? Baka ito naman ang bombahin (sabi nya). Kahapon, may isang bata, takot namang tumingin sa camera. Baka bomba yan. Shocked sila, trauma. (He said, I don’t want to enroll in grade 6, ‘they might bomb us again here.’ Yesterday, another boy also didn’t want to face the camera, he described it as another bomb. They are still in shock and traumatized),” Macaraya said.
For now, these children are being guided on how they can process a fear they are trying their best to forget.
(Video courtesy AFP TV)
