2005

Friday 25th February 2005
Catholic Mission funds trauma counselling for children in Sri Lanka
Imagine being so afraid of the sea, you couldn't even look at it. Many of the children who survived Asia 's devastating tsunami are so severely traumatised that the ocean, which was once their playground, is now something to be feared and avoided at all costs.

In Batticalao Diocese, on Sri Lanka 's east coast, Catholic Mission is funding Father Jude Johnson to train trauma counsellors to help the children.

Fr Johnson says the children are constantly reliving the disaster, resulting in fear, grief and frustration. “The educators are faced with new challenges. There needs to be a new approach towards these special cases and these educators need to be specially trained,” he said. “I strongly believe these children should be handled with great care. To bring these children back to normalcy, our educators need to be properly guided and educated.”

The program will be made up of three sessions of two days each and 30 participants will take part. Fr Johnson believes there is a long-term need for the project.

In Batticalao nearly 3000 deaths have been confirmed and nearly that number of people again have been injured. More than 1000 people are still missing and more than 26,000 displaced people are living in 47 camps.

Catholic Mission staff have visited the region and have emphasised the need for counselling. It is obvious the children are psychologically scarred – during an art therapy session it emerged that the greatest wish of the children was to move to higher ground where they felt they would be protected from the water.

While physical aid has been forthcoming in Sri Lanka , there is a great need to support such intangible work.

Funding for this project was provided by Catholic Mission's Tsunami Solidarity Appeal. Many more projects are in need of funding. Some projects have a significant cost, such as providing desks and chairs for homeless children in Colombo Diocese (cost $11,640 for 400 children) and the supply of packets of powdered milk for the children of Galle (cost $4035 for 1050 families). Other projects simply need a small amount of funding. The supply of basic medical supplies in Galle Diocese will cost just $512 for eight dispensaries and the payment of a basic wage to local mothers at Tangalle for the sewing of school uniforms costs $323 for three workers for 21 days.

The help of individuals, community groups, school and parishes is gratefully received.

For more information about Catholic Mission's Tsunami Solidarity Appeal phone Freecall 1800 257 296 or go to www.catholicmission.org.au

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