Wanted: Toys for children displaced by Marawi siege

COTABATO CITY — The Department of Health in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOH-ARMM) is calling for donations of toys for children displaced by the war in Marawi City.

Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr., DOH-ARMM chief, said children were the most vulnerable in the fighting.

“A cycle of violence in his or her life may create another batch of individuals whose solution to problems is violence,” Sinolinding said in a phone interview.

ARMM health workers have started checking the mental health of children in evacuation centers in Saguiaran town, Lanao del Sur province.

During one session with health workers, Bainot, a mother of three, told Sinolinding that the effects of war had become visible on her son.

Sobbing

“My child wakes up in the evening shaking in between sobs,” Sinolinding quoted Bainot as telling him.

Bainot said it was the first time her child was awakened in the middle of the night shaking and nervous.

“He is one of the thousands who suffered the brunt of war that silently destroys his childhood with fear and anger,” Sinolinding said.

He said psychosocial intervention would help children deal with the psychological effects of war.

“Traumatic experiences rob our child’s happiness,” Sinolinding said.

Play therapy, according to him, is one of the ways children could cope with the trauma. —EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ