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By Ayman El-Masri
Delegated by IslamOnline.net and the Arab Doctors’ Union, the psychological support team – which started its work three months ago - resumed its psychological support program offered to the displaced inhabitants of Nahr Al-Bared camp north of Lebanon. The team also worked on the habilitation of the Amal Al-Bared team – meaning El- Bared Hope.
According to the program coordinator, Basem Hamdy, this second visit to refugees in Al-Baddawi camp aimed to:
- Offered moral support – through emotional clearing sessions
- Guiding refugees who were displaced to Al-Baddawi Camp
- Continued to train the Al-Bared Hope team which was formed in August 2007
The previous visit comprising five members, worked on the formation of another team made up of 14 persons to work on humanitarian and medical relief in the camp due to the dire need observed among displaced families.
The psychological support program started on November 8th and continued until November 14th under the auspices of the relief agency of the Arab Doctors Union. The team was comprised of Doctor Ma`moun Al-Mubayyad, a psychiatrist, Dalia El-Shimi, a psychologist, and colleague Basem Hamdy.
A Message from Displaced Refugees
Doctor Ma`moun Al-Mubayyad spoke for the people displaced from Al- Bared Camp revealing their overwhelming feelings about a conspiracy to end Palestinian existence in Lebanon. Referring to the Post Stress Traumatic Disorder (PSTD), symptoms which most people in Al-Baddawi camp were experiencing, he said that the intended neglect of their simplest human needs seems to be a plan to force them to migrate.
Doctor Al-Mubayyad's main message to these refugees was:
“… all their feelings of grief, depression, disquiet sleep, and loss of appetite are normal human reactions to an abnormal incident and not the other way round. What they are going through is not a weakness in their characters or lack of faith.
Al-Mubayyad confirmed that it is necessary for any person who has been tested by an ordeal not to hide away or try to deny it. He has to face the situation as a primary step by admitting it and talking about it. His advice as a psychological support professional to the displaced people was:
“Do not ignore the destructive war which came over your camp and its effects. Talk about it and do not suppress anything inside you.”
The Nahr Al-Bared incidents flared up in the wake of confrontations between the Fatah Al-Islam group and the Lebanese army on May 20, 2007. The incidents forced the 35,000 inhabitants of the camp to evacuate, many of whom live in Al-Baddawi Camp basically in schools, halls and mosques and in very difficult living conditions which had far reaching impact on their psychological state.
Pressure Growing Out of Proportion
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Despite the end of military confrontations and although refugees started partially returning to the outskirts of the camp, and concerned departments started cleaning the camp to prepare for its inhabitance once again, the psychological state of displaced refugees is getting worse, according to Dalia El-Shimi who mingled with them during the first visit, two months ago, and this time.
Al-Shimi attributes this to:
“They never imagined the catastrophe to be as huge as they had faced on entering Al-Bared camp. There was destruction throughout the whole camp, the deliberate negligence in securing their minimum of living needs not to mention the demoralization they went through at seeing some abnormal conditions in their homes. Added to this some relief organizations have withdrawn completely and others have decreased their aid when the refugees started returning. Also there was absence of media interest in their case.”
All these reasons increased the psychological pressure on refugees, as El-Shimi explained, and led them to feel:
“They are alone and isolated in their suffering. The psychological demoralization has also shaken all the values and hope that they carried, which renewed the PSTD symptoms.”
Basic Elements of Success
Doctor Al-Mubayyad mentioned that to restore displaced refugees to their normal psychological state, the most valuable help would be the rehabilitation of the camp and their dignified return to their work and homes. In relation to decreasing the stress on the victims of the disaster, he referred to the "Maslow hierarchy of needs" which stands for:
First: securing basic human needs of food, water, clothes, and shelter.
Second: feelings of psychological and material stability and safety
Third: Feelings of belonging to some nation or people
It has to be mentioned, though, that Doctor Al-Mubayyad's Syrian accent played a very positive role in attracting refugees to talk to him. Refugees had become familiar with the accent through Bab El-Harah, a Syrian television series which was aired during the month of Ramadan. But Doctor Al-Mubayyad added another reason, namely Palestinians' appreciation of the Syrian stance on the Palestinian cause.
Amal El-BaredHope Team
Telephone and electronic communications between the training center management at IslamOnline headquarters in Cairo and the Amal El-Bared team never stopped since its formation on August 6, 2007. The team coordinator had been passing regular reports about the cases that they worked on and in return they received directions. Hence, Amal El-Bared organized drawing programs for children which were analyzed later. They also organized entertainment sessions in addition to breakfasts which gathered children from Al-Baddawi and Al-Bared camps to create an atmosphere of familiarity and closeness between them.
Al-Shimi, who supervised the training of Amal Al-Bared team, said that she was very optimistic about its future and expressed her admiration for the speed at which their experience at field work is increasing. She mentioned that the first session of this visit was dedicated to the psychological clearing for the team, because they needed it after entering Nahr Al-Bared camp and seeing the real catastrophe on the ground. The team would also be given three specialized training sessions.
After evaluating the team performance during the past stage, a future plan was agreed which assumes speeding up the rate by increasing the number of cases. The team has actually moved to the second stage of training. After a specific period, the supervisor responsible for training the team will also go through an efficiency test.
Currently, each member of the Amal Al-Bared team carried out psychological support through the association or NGO they worked with. When the team reached the third level of training, according to Al-Shimi, it can be announced as a separate association to start working under its own name.
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