UNICEF/LeMoyne

An injured girl moves with the aid of a walker at a hospital in northern Uganda. She had been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army and was shot through the leg while being rescued by government soldiers. Other injured children sit in the courtyard outside.

When children enter a UNICEF transitory care centre, they soon receive a general medical check-up followed by treatment where indicated. In DRC, the centres are designed for a three-month stay, and are often the children’s first contact with normality after their horrific experiences. “Generally speaking [the children] are not arriving wounded,” says Ironside. “They may have the scars of bullet and knife wounds, but these have usually healed.” Hair-raising cases of fistula or mutilation aside, the principal damage done is psychological.

Because of the numbers of children needing help – in the Goma transitory care centre in eastern DRC there are currently around 250 – it is not possible to work exclusively one-on-one, so the children have been grouped into ‘families’ of 30 or so, each group with a separate dormitory and assigned staff counsellors. The children, who come from different ethnic backgrounds and armed groups, are deliberately mixed. “The families are there to listen and to support one another, they deal with a range of issues from grief to outbursts of violence,” Ironside says. While reintegration into the community and establishing their own autonomy are important parts of the children’s rehabilitation, individual counselling is also provided, particularly to those with specific disorders or behavioural issues.

There is no data on just how effective this approach is, although both Nandy and Ironside say they have seen dramatic results. But the truth is UNICEF and its nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners are doing the best they can with inadequate resources. “Effective rehabilitation is extremely expensive and takes a long time,” points out Dr Alexander Butchart, in the Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability at the World Health Organization (WHO). Three months of group rehab is the best these children can hope for.

Encouraging life skills and economic autonomy is also a key aspect of UNICEF’s rehabilitation and re-integration efforts. “We provide support to get these children back to school or into vocational training or work,” says Ironside. These activities take place in local communities and include other vulnerable children, not just former child soldiers, to promote a sense of community and reduce stigmatization. Children who successfully complete a vocational training receive a start-up kit, for example in dress-making, carpentry or hairdressing, to help them along the long road to recovery, reintegration and independence. A kit to put a shattered life back together? “The kit is but one component of support and follow-up provided to these children. I have witnessed transformations,” says Ironside. ■