Post-trauma support lacks for survivors

Sukulwenkosi Dube
A 12-year-old girl from Mangwe District watched helplessly as her adopted mother was axed to death, not by a stranger but a trusted member of the family.

As if that was not enough, her mother’s assailant also attacked her with the same axe leaving her for dead.

Her five-year-old younger sister woke up the following morning to find her mother and sister lying dead on a blood stained floor with the axe which was used, next to her sister.

These are not the only children who have recently survived horrific ordeals.

A Grade 7 pupil from Tsukuru Village in Bulilima District was on her way to write her final examinations when she was attacked and raped by a man from her neighbourhood in bushy area.

Her assailant did not stop there but went on to strangle the helpless girl and left her for dead. A few months prior to this incident another youngster from the same area was attacked by an unknown man who tried to rape her while she was on her way from school but she managed to escape.

This is just but an example of terrible incidences which occur, get investigated and later die a natural death. Such horrific incidences become the “talk of the town” for a short while and are later forgotten.

An important aspect which is often overlooked is that of the possible trauma later experienced by children who survive or experience such horrendous ordeals.

Child psychologists have pointed out that these life events turned out as detrimental to children’s lives.

They also noted that scores of children were being haunted by memories of these experiences because they were not awarded with the opportunity to get appropriate professional help to overcome their ordeals.

Director of a child protection organisation, Restoration of Hope, Clive Simango, said psychologist Freud states that a traumatic event leaves a child at a fixation state.

Simango said the child’s mind remains trapped within that event.

He said this psychological effect was detrimental to the growth of the victim’s mind.

“A child may continue living after going through a traumatic experience but the truth is that the event will always linger in their mind. That means that the child would be psychologically fixed in that ordeal and will not grow psychologically and that is known as the fixation state,” said Simango.

He said this effect was inevitable in cases where a child experienced or witnessed a traumatic event.

He said these included circumstances where a child witnessed murder, rape, physical abuse acts and any tragic event or where a child was raped or experienced any form of abuse.

Simango said a traumatic incident was an experience that could cause physical, emotional, psychological distress, or harm. He said these experiences later posed a threat to a child’s safety or stability of life.

Simango said a child who was in a fixation state would always recall the events of the incident which would have led to their trauma.

He said such a child would develop a fear of environments similar to the one where the incident would have occurred. He said in some cases of traumatic ordeals children tend to develop a self blame feeling.

“If the ordeal which traumatised a child occurred in a closed house the youngster might develop a fear of closed houses. In the case of the 12-year-old and her five-year-old sister who saw their mother being murdered these children will develop a fear of the room where their mother was killed,” said Simango.

“It’s sad that some children blame themselves for tragic events. The 12-year-old who watched as her mother was being axed might develop a feeling that she could have done something to avert her mother’s death.

“Children who get raped sometimes blame themselves and develop a sense of regret and they find false comfort in this. They do all this in a bid to rid themselves of the psychological torment they would be going through,” he said.

Another child psychologist, Reverend Muiti Sibanda, who is also a pastor from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, said traumatising incidences either had long term or short term side effects on children.

He said some of these effects were visible soon after the incident while others could be observed later in life.

Sibanda said trauma caused some children to be reserved and frightened while other children turned out to be hyper active. He said in cases where children were sexually abused they would sometimes develop a fear of people of the same gender as their rapist.

He said any scenario similar to that of the traumatising incident would make a child frightened thereby causing the youngster to be jittery.

Sibanda said in most cases the performance of traumatised children in school dropped. He said severely affected children would lose concentration in school and people close to the youngster would notice a change in their behaviour.

He said in worst scenarios traumatised children were often stigmatised by their peers because of their experiences. Sibanda said such an experience did not contribute to the healing process but only worsened the trauma.

He said in worst cases some children went on to imitate the traumatic incident which they would have experienced or witnessed.

“If a child witnesses a murder that child can go on to perform an act of murder themselves. Trauma affects different children in various ways and has varying effects. Therefore children will respond to these experiences in different ways,” said Sibanda.

He said traumatic ordeals also had an anti-social effect on children.

He said after an experience some children found it difficult to relate well with people. Sibanda said as a long term effect girl children who were rape victims often found it difficult to retain a trust for men even during their marriage life.

He said such a victim would have reached a psychological conclusion that all men have a similar motive as that of their assailant.

Sibanda said at times parents tend to overlook the possible side effects that can haunt a child following a traumatising incident.

“Sometimes parents would see the child playing with peers following an incident and assume that everything is back to normal but the truth is the problem would still be there. At times guardians might think a child is still young and may overlook the need for professional help.

“For example the guardian’s of the five-year-old girl who found her mother and sister and lying in a pool of blood may think that she will soon forget the incident but this may not be the case,” said Sibanda.

“The truth is that the incident would have registered itself at the back of the mind of the child. In cases where children are raped parents may dismiss seeking help and assume the child would eventually forget the incident.

“The child may forget for a while but some happenings in their lives might trigger old memories of those traumatising events,” he said.

Sibanda said there were a number of untold traumatic incidences which later manifested themselves at a later stage.

A traditional leader, Chief Madlambuzi from Bulilima District, pointed out that a number of people were concealing these traumatic experiences which their children went through in a bid to protect the perpetrators.

He said at times children were being raped by their relatives. He said unwise parents would opt to safeguard the reputation and freedom of the perpetrators at the expense of a child’s well being.

Chief Madlambuzi said a failure by parents or guardians to report rape cases perpetrated against children caused the youngsters to be exempted from receiving psychological and medical help.

“Parents and guardians are often faced with a decision of taking up cases of child abuse. However, it is sad that some of them choose not to especially if the perpetrator is the sole bread winner within the family,” he said.

Chief Madlambuzi said the onus lay with the guardians to ensure that children were protected. He said the danger of sparing the perpetrators was that they would move on to hurt more children.

Another traditional leader, Chief Bango of Mangwe area, said the habit by parents to dismiss seeking help for their children was part of the reasons why youngsters later adopted violent ways of living.

He said it was detrimental for guardians to overlook the possible damage which could be caused by a traumatic experience.

He said children were now spectators of a number of domestic violence cases which occurred within homes. Chief Bango said the experiences of a child’s day to day life later shaped his or her behaviour and approach to life.

Simango said every child deserved a chance at healing. He said youngsters who had undergone traumatic experiences had to undergo professional counselling.

He said after the incident a child felt like a victim and therapy was meant to turn the child into a survivor.

He said the process of healing was there to move the youngster from the fixation state thereby promoting their growth psychologically.

Simango said therapy for the child would start from what is termed the “lying on the coach” stage. He said this process involved recalling the events of the day when the incident which traumatised the child occurred.

He said the youngster was supposed to be assisted in disclosing his or her feelings of the incident and their views about the assailant.

Simango said using psycho analysts theories a child was assisted in discussing and dealing with the reality of what had transpired.

“The child has to go through the transference stage where he or she is asked what they would say if their assailant were present. The child has to go through different counselling sessions until he or she opens up.

“Relapses can be experienced along the way and the child may have nervous break downs but they are all part of the therapy,” said Simango.

He said at the end the child would lose the ideology of regret and self blame. He said counselling was crucial in helping youngsters in accepting the incidences and developing an urge to continue with life despite the experience.

He said it was also the best solution in eliminating unnecessary distrust among child survivors.

Simango said therapy was more effective and less costly once sought at an early stage. He said a number of children were failing to achieve their goals while others had their lives shattered because of lack of therapy.

He said traumatic experiences did not only have psychological effects on children but were also detrimental to their health.

He said during the process while guardians were concealing rape incidences perpetrated against their children they would also be depriving them of an opportunity to get medical help.

Simango urged parents to desist from protecting criminals at the expense of their children’s welfare. He said a proper parent would be able to notice any behaviour change in their child in order to make an appropriate decision.

The family of the five-year-old and 12-year-old who witnessed the execution of their mother have expressed a desire to have the two children counselled. However, rural communities face great challenges as they do not have child psychological facilities within their vicinity.

Chief Bango said some villagers were not even aware that child psychologists existed. He said at the rate at which child rape cases occurred there had to be therapeutic centres at community clinics or business centres.

He said close proximity to these facilities would also urge the rural folk to seek help for traumatised children.