F O U N D A T I O N U N D E R C I V I L L A W TODAY

Newsletter April 2012

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Executive Committee

Stefanie GrafCEO

Prof. Michael Schulte-MarkwortDeputy Chairman

Prof. Dr. Jörg F. Debatin

ThE FounDaTion

WE WoulD likE To inTroDuCE

Children for Tomorrow is a non-profit foundation with the aim of supporting and initiating projects that provide assistance to children and families who are victims of war, persecution, and violence. The foundation has been established as a result of many years of contact between Stefanie Graf, medical doctors of the Outpatient Clinic for Refugee Children and their Families at the University Clinics of Hamburg-Eppen-dorf as well as meetings with representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

advisory CommitteeFormer Federal PresidentDr. richard v. WeizsäckerFormer President of the university hamburg, Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen lüthjeDr. Custodia Mandlhate, WHO representative for mental health, southern AfricaSabine Christiansenkrista Sager, Member of the German Federal Parliamentrolf hunck, Deutsche Bank AG

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Fionna Klasen, who has a doctorate in psychology, has been working for “Children for Tomorrow” for the last seven years. She is in charge of the project in Uganda as well as the Research Centre. While her main responsibili-ty in Uganda is project coordination and planning, at the Research Centre she carries out scientific research into the mental health of war-traumatized children.

She has been setting up psychological and medical faci-lities for the treatment of former child soldiers together with her team in Uganda since 2009. “Meanwhile the si-tuation is relatively quiet, and I am delighted that our ambulance is constantly growing but there remains a lot to be done,” says Ms Klasen. She was awarded the För-derpreis der Deutschsprachigen Gesellschaft für Psycho-

traumatologie (Award of the German-Speaking Associa-tion of Psychotraumatology) in March 2012 for her sci-entific work on child soldiers. Apart from working in Uganda she is a firm believer of research since “we can only do our work properly by constantly checking the quality of our approaches.”

Last year 720 children took part in her survey about the long-term consequences of war and their current health situation. Klasen is currently examining a brand new approach to reduce children’s trauma symptoms. “I hope that our research benefits the health care of war-trau-matized children.”

Fionna Klasen

ChroniClE ChilDrEn For ToMorroW

1998 1999 2000 2001 2006 2009 2011 2012

Foundation and start of the outpatient Clinic for refugee Children, hamburg

Project South africa

Project kosovo

art therapeutic atelier, hamburg

Project Eritrea

Project uganda

opening of the Foundation’s headquarters, hamburg

Dr. Fionna Klasen

Management Stephanie hermes

Board of Trustees Dr. andreas rittstiegThomas külpmannProf. Franz resch

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Dear friends of ‘Children for Tomorrow’,

it has been a year since we moved into our own new headquarters. We can now look back on eventful months which laid out the foun-dation for our future work. Patients as well as therapists have now settled in; our psychotherapies, art therapies and psychosocial pro-grammes take place in a friendly and light environment. Our house has become a welcoming meeting place. Currently most refugee children come from Afghanistan, Somalia, Guinea and the Balkan States – they all find a new home in our headquarters, a home in which they are listened to and in which they are not only free but also have the environment to talk about their fears. Social workers, interpreters, family members and our cooperation partners also enjoy calling in to meet likeminded colleagues and to discuss ideas and thoughts.

The year 2011 ended with a special honour: in November “Children for Tomorrow” was awarded the Marion Dönhoff Förderpreis for global understanding and reconciliation. The jury argued that “In the international projects children and adolescents who are traumatized by escape and persecution are supported in learning how to deal with their experiences. This is an outstanding example of future-oriented engagement.” Our Deputy Chairmen Professor Jörg Fischer and Professor Jörg Debatin accep-ted the award which is endowed with 25.000 Euro at a festive event in the Schauspielhaus Hamburg.

I would like to express my special gratitude to the jury and the ZEIT readers for this exceptional award which will motivate us to conti-nue our work in the future.

Last but not least, I would like to welcome our new deputy chair-man, Professor Michael Schulte-Markwort to our foundation. He has been responsible for the thematic focus of the foundation since January. I am very grateful that “Children for Tomorrow” will benefit from the support of such a multi-qualified personality as Professor Schulte-Markwort and I am looking forward to working with him.

This summer I shall once again be joining my colleagues at the foundation’s headquarters in Hamburg. I am looking forward to in-teresting conversations and I promise to keep you updated about all developments on our website and in our newsletter.

I would like to thank all friends and supporters for their loyal sup-port!

Yours

Stefanie GrafFounder/CEO

Our patients show us where their home country is on a wall map in our waiting room.

The festive Marion Dönhoff Award ceremony with Prof. Debatin and Prof. Fischer (left to right)

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In January 2012, “Children for Tomorrow“ started a comprehensive mentor programme. Interested students have the opportunity to do an internship and work as mentors for our refugee children. With this they support our psychosocial programmes “Hamburg Guide” which helps children to orientate themselves in Hamburg, “CfT macht Klas-se” (psychosocial programme in schools), “Deutsch-Club”, “Komm, mach Mathe” (German club and maths club) and “CfT-Knirpse am Morgen” (play group for toddlers and their parents).

Maren Bollin, 24, and Ricarda Weil, 23, study Psychology and Sophie van de Vyver, 22, studies Ethnology. They started working as supervi-sors for the “Hamburg Guide“ in February. The interview was carried out by Sarah Barth, head of psychosocial programmes at CfT.

What was your motivation to become engaged in working with refugee children at “Children for Tomorrow?”

Van de Vyver: I used to live abroad when I was young and I can clearly remember the feeling of being foreign to a new culture. I believe that I can understand the refugees better because of this background. Weil: I am fascinated by what the refugee children are achieving despite their previous experiences. Working with them is extremely important since they normally don’t get much public attention.

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What is the background story of the Hamburg Guide?

Bollin: Refugee children who arrive in Hamburg have a hard time finding their way around. I believe one reason for this is that a big city like Hamburg is hard to understand when you come from a different cultural background. The refugees have no experience with the layout of German cities, administration or infrastructure simply because their background is completely different. One con-sequence of ignorance is passivity. How should they come up with the idea to go somewhere when they neither know that it exists nor know how to get there? This is aggravated by the unawareness of their rights and possibilities. For them it is hard to imagine that they can participate in sports programmes for free or spend their leisure time in youth clubs. We would like to show them their opti-ons and encourage them to make use of the offers.

Van de Vyver: The refugees find it hard to integrate into the new culture and even harder to leave their newly encountered comfort zone. We would like to help them to lose the fear of a big city and help them to find their way around.

Weil: One consequence of not knowing what life is like in a German city is that the adolescents stay in their rooms simply because they are afraid. But young people should be encouraged to build up their self esteem. For this they need to make their own experiences, master challenges and above all, find friends outside the family circle.

How do you turn these ideas into reality in the programme “Hamburg Guide”?

Bollin: Our main aim is to guide the participating refugee children towards a feeling of autonomy. They should experience that they are safe and that they can find their own way around Hamburg without being harmed. We hope that their damaged feeling of control will improve through orientation and independence. They also meet likeminded people of the same age with similar back-grounds which gives them the chance to have fun and find friends at the same time. We believe that this eventually leads to integrati-on.

Van de Vyver: In this context, integration means finding orientati-on. This allows permanent mobility and independence. In addition, the teenagers should have the chance to enjoy the city. This inclu-des learning how to use the offers for their leisure time, information and support. Above all, participation in our project involves experi-encing new things, meeting open-minded people, developing their personalities and getting to know German culture and the way of life here.

How does the “Hamburg Guide” work in detail?

Van de Vyver: Around 15 refugee teenagers, aged between 14 and 18, participate for three months in our Hamburg Guide. The pro-gramme offers weekly meetings and cultural events. Of course all our excursions are free of charge.

Weil: In order to guarantee sustainability for the programme we ask the teenagers to write diaries about the excursions.

Who were you able to win over as cooperation partners so far?

Van de Vvyer: Our cooperation partners are information centres, public institutions and leisure-time agencies. The teenagers should have fun and learn where to find help in case of emergency.

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Weil: It was not too hard to find cooperation partners who trusted in the programme. So far we have started long-term cooperation partnerships with the “Stiftung Öffentlicher Bücherhallen Ham-burg“ (Foundation of Public Libraries, Hamburg) and the “Bowling-center USPlay“. The “Abaton“- Cinema, “Hamburg-Museum”, the Mi-nistry of Culture Office for the Protection of Historic Buildings and the Town Hall Hamburg offer unique tours for our refugee teen-agers. The “Kaifu Swimming Pool” offers free swimming lessons to the refugees who are often afraid of water as many of them could not swim when they escaped by boat.

Bollin: The Hamburg Guide is planned as a permanent offer, there-fore we are interested in long-term cooperation partnerships. We also hope that the cooperation partners will support us in focus-sing attention on the problematic situations of the refugee children in Hamburg.

We would like to thank our cooperation partners

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Translation:Life passes in a whiff

Life is toughMy destiny Is transient

Don’t put effort into it This is a rock hard lifeI hope you fall in love one day.

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Translation:I am fed up with my life. I have no chance at all.

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Mareike Röwekamp, art therapist at the outpatient clinic for refugee children.

The outpatient clinic offers individual art therapies with the focus on expression painting for refugee children in addition to individual counselling. The department is headed by the art therapist Mareike Röwekamp. Art therapies seek to offer creative approaches to overco-me the refugee children’s traumas by concentrating on ego stabili-sing, identity strengthening and resource-oriented methods.

history and method of expression painting Expression painting was founded by Arno Stern who suffered from war and expulsion himself. He later realised the importance of expression painting for traumatized children in his work at a children’s home. He set fixed criteria for ex-pression painting: the walls are lined with poplar wood on which large sheets of paper are attached. The children stand while they paint. Close by is a large table with colourful quali-tative colours. The table serves as meeting point

since the children help themselves to colours, chat a bit and return to their piece of work. The rules for use of the materials create order and structure. This structure enhances the joy of using the materi-als. Expression painting is a creative game with paints and brushes, there are no set topics or requirements. Everybody can paint wha-tever they want, no previous knowledge or talent is required, the paintings are not compared or interpreted in the group and there is no competition between the children.

Expression painting with refugee childrenThe majority of refugee children at the outpatient clinic do not speak German but expression painting enables them to communi-cate nonverbally. The essential terms can be learnt quickly and are practised over the course of the painting session. Each beginning of a group is marked by a chat with the parents or social workers. It is possible to invite an interpreter during the introduction in order to explain the rules of the game to the children. Working with refu-gee children requires particular attention: the setting needs to be spacious in order to offer sufficient space, openness and orientati-on to the children. If they wish, they can withdraw and find a di-stance to their visual expression. The difficult living conditions of refugee children, such as impending deportation or limited educa-tional opportunities, often result in a feeling of insecurity, fear of the future, no perspective and a feeling of being not welcomed.

By working with art therapies and expression painting in particular, children experience the opposite: they find themselves in a safe environment and have the chance to work creatively and develop their talents. Children can differentiate their visual expression indi-vidually in expression painting. The art therapist is present and at-tentive at all times. She supports the children in their painting and workflow. The therapist’s attention helps the children to feel safe and protected. Only in this environment can a space be created that leaves room for various feelings that range from fear, anger, sadness, powerlessness, but also joy, hope and trust.

Expression painting in art therapies

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Dear friends of “Children for Tomorrow!“

We are in the middle of preparing the annual summer games in Rahovec which is around 20 kilometres east of Gjakova. They have become very popular in Kosovo over the years. We aim to bring children from Albania and Serbia together and contribute to reconciliation between those two ethnic groups with our games. Albanians and Serbs have been living in two separated parts of the city since the end of the war in 1999. It is difficult to establish

communication between the two groups. All children suf-fered from violence in the war, they were persecuted and many of them lost relatives.

We would therefore love to offer a safe environment to the children in Rahovec where they experience equality, communication and the chance to learn from each other. In addition, we hope that they will learn to respect dif-ferences and commu-nalities between ethnic groups. Each year, we take children for eight weeks to Rahovec, and each week has a diffe-rent motto, e.g. what is a safe place for me? How do I react to anger and fear? What does trust and

friendship mean to me? We do special exercises and games in Albanian and Serbian and they become more familiar with each other every day.

Our summer games take place in the Serbian part of the city for one week and in the Albanian part for the other. In the beginning, the children are often afraid to

go to the other, unfamiliar part of the city. But after a while they calm down and start trusting us. They become more open and friendly towards each other, start talking and listening to each other. The summer games have proven to be very successful in the peace process. Children reduce their prejudices and the di-stance between them and the others on a daily basis.

Many children have never had the chance to experience anything like this before. They always find new friends during the summer games in Rahovec.

Urim Deva, head of the Kosovo project

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Fionna Klasen, head of the project in Uganda

It has been almost three years since “Children for Tomorrow“ ope-ned the outpatient clinic in the local hospital in Gulu/Northern Uganda. We offer help and support for ever more traumatized children and their families. Our team consists of a doctor, two psy-chologically trained nurses and one psychologist. After the start of the ceasefire six years ago, the rebels retreated to the Congo and the Central African Republic and many families were able to leave the refugee camps and return to their villages. Although they are now able to work their fields again, the 20 years of war have left deep marks and the economic, psychological and societal rebuil-ding will take several decades.

However, many children who would need help cannot make it to our outpatient clinic. Parents and teachers often do not know that children can suffer from mental problems. The very authoritarian educational system punishes misbehaviour in most cases quite drastically. That misbehaviour can be a symptom of traumatic expe-riences is generally unknown here. In particular, introverted sym-ptoms such as depression or anxiety are not perceived as problems at all. Even if parents understood the problematic situation, many families could not afford the transport to our outpatient clinic if they lived outside of Gulu. Therefore “Children for Tomorrow” seeks to work directly in local schools and has mapped out the “strong minds” programme. We are grateful for the immense help and sup-port of Katharina Kiemer, a school psychologist from Munich, who supported us during her two month internship in Uganda.

Many but by no means all children go to school in Uganda alt-hough the government introduced seven years of compulsory and free schooling in 1997. Yet only around 40% of all children do not drop out and a mere 25% continue with secondary education.

We studied international literature intensely and spoke to the so-cial worker Sarah Barth of “Children for Tomorrow” about our school programme. We then drew on local teachers in Uganda and asked them which elements and topics should be included in a school programme here. The interviews quickly revealed that little is known about the reasons, diagnosis and treatments of psycholo-gical problems and that many people have prejudices towards psychiatric institutions. Therefore we decided to focus on psycho education, namely information and knowledge transfer as a core task without leaving prevention and resources strengthening aside. In addition to informing about numerous problems like depression, aggressive behaviour, alcohol and drugs, the written brochure also includes various didactic approaches and information for parents as well as teachers.

During the first sessions we focus on the children’s perception of health and illness and the influence on wellbeing. The children are encouraged to talk about their experiences with stress, violence, war traumas and other consequences in the consecutive sessions. After that we explain the resulting symptoms of traumatizing expe-riences such as nightmares, headache, abnormal behaviour or alco-hol abuse which children and adolescents can suffer from. Children then contribute their ideas to supporting other children in their striving for help when they suffer from problems.

In addition to the knowledge transfer of our “strong minds” pro-gramme, we focused on the flexible use of the pedagogically im-portant units such as games, discussions, relaxation exercises or exemplifying scenarios. It was also necessary to keep the various conditions within the schools in mind. For this we further included several optional approaches which e.g. focus on school-based sup-port for traumatized children.

Katharina met the team in Uganda regularly over the past weeks to check back if the topics, contents and language meet the Ugandan

Start of the school programme in Uganda

James Okello, Katharina Kiemer and Fionna Klasen at their school project

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cultural requirements. Now it is time to see if the programme works. School classes in Uganda are fairly big, with often more than 50 pupils, which is a challenge in itself.

We focus on working with the children directly yet we have to con-sider that they are embedded in their environment. We therefore developed modules for teachers and parents as well. Workshops will inform parents and teachers about psychological problems children suffer from, and we will also present and discuss ideas which enhance health within the families or schools.

To guarantee the sustainability of the programme we wish that every school opens a “strong minds club”. Dedicated students will increase their knowledge about mental health under the supervisi-on of “Children for Tomorrow” and set up information events within the schools, plan activities and peer-to-peer support. Following an English role model for the support of refugee children we also wish to establish close contact to a teacher at the school who can serve as liaison teacher for pupils, parents and other teachers.

By establishing a liaison teacher and the “strong minds club” it could be possible that “Children for Tomorrow” hands over the reins of running programmes for mental programmes to the local schools in the long term. “Children for Tomorrow” could counsel the schools for some time afterwards and then move on to focus on the next school.

While I was in Uganda in February 2012 we interviewed several candidates for our school programmes. Patrick Okori, a highly mo-tivated psychologist from Kampala in his early twenties joined our team and is currently being trained by Katharina for his future work in the schools. She taught him the didactical aspects, such as the planning of school lessons, the motivation of students, different learning approaches, how to guide a group of students, lead a con-versation and listen actively. His clinical training will take place at our outpatient clinic under the supervision of our psychiatrist, Ja-mes Okello.

In search of a school for our programme we visited the Laroo Boar-ding Primary School for War-Affected Children while I was there.

In 2006, after the end of the 20 years of war in Uganda, I interview-ed 330 former child soldiers about their experiences and sym-ptoms. The result was that more than 60% of the children need treatment since they suffered from psycho-pathological symptoms like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The head of the school was enthusiastic about our programme and two weeks ago we started our programme at the school. It will take place once a week over the next year. In addition to that we offer drop-in consultation hours for students and teachers.

So far we were able to employ a new team member for our new school programme. Yet many schools are in need of such a pro-gramme that strengthens mental health, identifies severely trau-matized children and guides them towards help.

a social worker in uganda costs 200 Euros per month. Please support us in employing more social workers in order to help more children by donating money to our foundation’s bank account with the keyword “uganda”

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Produced and published by: Children for Tomorrow, Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts, Martinistraße 52, Kinderweg 1,Haus O44, 20246 Hamburg, Telefon +49 (0)40 47 19 308 10, Fax + (0)40 47 19 308 25, [www.children-for-tomorrow.de]

Editorial management: Stephanie HermesStaff: Sarah Barth, Maren Bollin, Urim Deva, Birgit Kahle [www.birgitkahle.com],

Fionna Klasen, Mareike Röwekamp, Sophie van de Vyver, Ricarda WeilCredits: Klasen (cover, p. 2, S. 10/11), CfT (p. 2, 3), DIE ZEIT (p. 3), Barth (p. 4/5), Röwekamp (p. 8), Deva (p. 9)

Design: Design Labor, Britta Stahl, Mannheim [www.design-labor.de], Translation: Jennifer Bligh, MünchenPrint: Karl Bergmann & Sohn KG [www.bergmann-sohn.de] Circulation: 1.000 exemplars, subject to alterations

„Children for Tomorrow“Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-EppendorfMartinistr. 52 / Kinderweg 1, Gebäude O4420246 Hamburg

Tel: +49 (0)40-47 19 308-10Fax: +49 (0)40-47 19 308-25Mail: info@children-for-tomorrow.deInternet: www.children-for-tomorrow.de

Have you thought of becoming a supporter of Children for Tomor-row? Your donation makes it possible for children to have a fair chance at proper development Account holder: Children for TomorrowAccount number: 070 7000, BLZ: 200 700 00 IBan: DE49 2007 0000 0070 7000 00Swift Code: DEUTDEHHXXXDeutsche Bank, Hamburg

For donation receipts please include your full name and address (in capital letters) on the bank transfer form. For donations of mo-re than 200 Euros a donation receipt will be sent automatically if your address is included. Of course you also have the opportunity to donate online. Please use our donation account at the “Bank für Sozialwirtschaft.” Refer to our website for more information: www.children-for-tomorrow.de

We would like to express our deepest thanks to all our supporters and sponsors as well as to our charity staff for their lasting commitment.

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