New centre treats Syrian children fleeing war

Turkish Weekly have written about our new psychological centre in Istanbul, which treats children who have fled the war in Syrian. Mina, a shy and quiet eight-year-old from Damascus, is a troubled child. When she dreams, she sees dead bodies on the walls and is too frightened to go to the bathroom alone. Now in Istanbul, she speaks of how a dead body lay in front of her Damascus home for weeks as people were too afraid to move it. Later, her home was hit by a bomb, forcing her to hide in the bathroom with her family. These shattering experiences have contributed to her lasting distress and anxiety. Mina draws a picture of a garden where children are playing with their friends; they all have happy faces except one little girl who is alone and looks very sad. She is just one of an estimated 2 million children – among a total of 5.5 million affected by the Syrian conflict – who are in need of psychological support or treatment, according to UNICEF. Read More