TWO MILLION CHILDREN April 27, 2015 SOUND-UP: Father gestures to daughter’s picture. FATHER: When we thought we were safe, they started dropping bombs on us. The child is terrorized and starts hugging you. Close up of Doaa. ALI SAMAREH’S DAUGHTER DIED IN SYRIA WHEN AN AIRSTRIKE HIT HIS HOME. HIS SURVIVING DAUGHTER SAW HER TWIN SISTER KILLED BESIDE HER. DOAA: I saw my sister dead. I was fine before, but when I saw my sister killed, I got anxious // Right now I’m a little bit angry. I have a hard time talking to people. FATHER: The children of Syria all have psychological problems. Doaa and girl pose for photo with peace sign. ABO-HILAL: This generation are the future of Syria. // If you // don’t help them // to cope, to get the needed skills to deal with the situation // they will be a future problem. Mohammad Abo-Hilal in front of boys recovery session. MOHAMMAD ABO-HILAL IS A SYRIAN PSYCHIATRIST AND A REFUGEE. HE’S ON A MISSION TO HELP FELLOW SYRIANS TRAUMATIZED BY THE WAR — CHILDREN IN PARTICULAR. SOUND-UP (Abo-Hilal leading boys): Relax, close your eyes. HE STARTED BRIGHT FUTURE, A MENTAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION. THEY HELP CHILDREN COPE WITH THEIR TRAUMA. Archival footage: explosion, fleeing. AFTER FIVE YEARS OF WAR... FOUR MILLION PEOPLE HAVE FLED THE COUNTRY... TWO MILLION ARE CHILDREN. AHMED: We ran outside the school, and the sniper started shooting at the children. AHMED: A sniper shot a bullet at us. It hit a kid and his sister... and his sister died. FOURTEEN YEAR OLD AHMED DIDN’T SPEAK FOR DAYS AFTER HIS CLASSMATE’S DEATH. HIS MOM SAID HE HID UNDER THE TABLE WHEN HE HEARD LOUD NOISES. AHMED: I was depressed. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep or eat well. I was disturbed. ABO-HILAL: Did you get angry a lot? AHMED: Yes, I’d get angry a lot. ABO-HILAL KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHILDREN LIKE AHMED — WITH SYMPTOMS OF POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER — ARE LEFT UNTREATED. ABO-HILAL: You will have aggressive behaviour, you will have problems with schools, you will have children who will take drugs, and forming gangs and having disrupted social life. Boys recovery session. SO HE’S TRYING TO HELP THEM WITH ART THERAPY... ABO-HILAL: So in PTSD you have nightmares, so one technique to combat nightmares is to draw them. SOUND UP (boy describing drawing): Those kids were playing outside their home, when a helicopter started bombing them. ABO-HILAL: Like here the helicopter that used to bomb now is sending balloons. and here people who were fighting, now they are just handshaking. ANOTHER TECHNIQUE IS VISUALIZATION. SOUND-UP (Abo-Hilal leading boys): Imagine a safe space where you want to be. WHILE THESE STRATEGIES AREN’T A PROVEN CURE FOR TRAUMA, THEY ALLOW CHILDREN TO GAIN SOME CONTROL OVER THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS... AND START THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE AGAIN. SOUND-UP OF ABO-HILAL AND BOYS: When each of you goes back to Syria, what do you want to do? ... I want to rebuild my home...engineer...doctor... a doctor so I can treat children...I want to train people in case they get attacked. ABO-HILAL: ... so they can defend themselves. SOUND-UP: Ahmed reading to his siblings TWO YEARS AGO, AHMED’S MOTHER SIGNED HIM UP FOR BRIGHT FUTURE’S PROGRAM. SHE SAYS HE’S DOING BETTER IN SCHOOL NOW, BUT STILL RECOVERING. AHMED: I still see nightmares, but not as bad as before. Everything is better now, even the depression. But I still have a temper. ABO-HILAL HAS HIS OWN NIGHTMARES—MEMORIES OF HIS IMPRISONMENT AND TORTURE BY THE ASSAD REGIME... ABO-HILAL: Actually it’s a very terrible experience to be arrested in these circumstances. And you... from a philosophical and psychological point of view, you hit the bottom of all life. Abo-Hilal with kids. WHEN HE WAS RELEASED... HE FLED TO JORDAN WITH HIS WIFE AND THREE CHILDREN. HIS EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER DRAWS PICTURES OF SYRIA. Close up daughter’s drawings. SOUND UP ABO-HILAL: This is a small baby who died. Actually this is when chemical weapons attack. Abo-Hilal’s kids playing. ABO-HILAL: I have a duty to do, as if I’m dead, but I was granted a new life. SOUND UP: Model building (from leader to boy) ABO-HILAL’S ORGANIZATION RUNS THREE CENTRES IN JORDAN. BEYOND TREATING TRAUMA, THEY OFFER ACTIVITIES AND AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS FOR CHILD REFUGEES. ABO-HILAL: They are working together and sharing ideas, and trying to come up with decisions about the best way to do the task. BUT ABO-HILAL KNOWS IT’S NOT ENOUGH. ABO-HILAL: All what we did, maybe we cover like 10,000, 20,000 child but there’s millions out there waiting for this help. AS THE CONFLICT DRAGS ON, ABO-HILAL WANTS TO CONTINUE HELPING HIS COUNTRY’S YOUNG PEOPLE, LIKE AHMED. Ahmed at home ABO-HILAL: This is to give an example of survival, we didn’t accept the status of victim. I hope that this will give hope and model for many areas in the world that you can do something, even if you are in very hard situation. (Fade out) Credits: PRODUCED BY Hala Kamaliddin, Darryl Hol, Valentina Ruiz Leotaud, Dan McKinney PHOTOGRAPHY Dan McKinney, Darryl Hol ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE UNHCR ADDITIONAL REPORTING Mohammed Gazal (International Reporting Program Stinger) ******30******