children speak
through the blue door
children the world over speak of their experiences, thoughts and feelings, telling their stories
in image and text.
and through the door(s) of symbolic expression, they reveal all that the grownups need to know.
We need only to learn to read their language.
"For it is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is Essential is invisible to the eye. . . ."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (1943), end of Chap. 21
(full quotation:)
"'Goodbye,' said the fox. 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'
'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
'It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.'
'It is the time I have wasted for my rose--' said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
'Men have forgotten this truth,' said the fox. 'But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . .'
'I am responsible for my rose,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.'"
Chapter 21 and the quotation references are part of the author's gentle comments about love and responsibility.
One can see much with one's eyes; but it is with one's heart that one sees, feels, and perhaps understands love.
Telling their stories "in both image and text" is a treatment intervention.
Children are able to form and co-create, re-create with a sense of mastery, in the presence of caring, skilled, adults, their unique traumatization stories
as a way to process feelings, gain coherence over chaos, gain a sense of control rather than remaining passive victims.
When they are able to do this in a group setting over time, their trust in others, and in community (a predictable, family-like setting) begins to emerge,
flourishes and can become a critical component of their coping repertoire.
***
through the blue door
children the world over speak of their experiences, thoughts and feelings, telling their stories
in image and text.
and through the door(s) of symbolic expression, they reveal all that the grownups need to know.
We need only to learn to read their language.
"For it is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is Essential is invisible to the eye. . . ."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (1943), end of Chap. 21
(full quotation:)
"'Goodbye,' said the fox. 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'
'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
'It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.'
'It is the time I have wasted for my rose--' said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
'Men have forgotten this truth,' said the fox. 'But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . .'
'I am responsible for my rose,' the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.'"
Chapter 21 and the quotation references are part of the author's gentle comments about love and responsibility.
One can see much with one's eyes; but it is with one's heart that one sees, feels, and perhaps understands love.
Telling their stories "in both image and text" is a treatment intervention.
Children are able to form and co-create, re-create with a sense of mastery, in the presence of caring, skilled, adults, their unique traumatization stories
as a way to process feelings, gain coherence over chaos, gain a sense of control rather than remaining passive victims.
When they are able to do this in a group setting over time, their trust in others, and in community (a predictable, family-like setting) begins to emerge,
flourishes and can become a critical component of their coping repertoire.
***
A nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl tells her entire story in this picture -- her house, with its beautiful blue door burning, a soldier shooting the baby in her mother's arms.
This little Iraqi girl is only seven. She lives in a Jordanian camp for Syrian children. She says that since she say her brother killed, she always wants to to die too.
Remembering vividly the early morning sky and the transport vehicle that brought the exhausted refugees from the border to the refugee camp in the desert in the desert in Jordan.
. . . walking among the graves in the refugee camp . . . .
A child's drawing shows developmental awareness in that he depicts people of various sizes in family groups. They appear to be standing in one of many lines in one of the largest Jordanian camps for Syrian children and families.
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Some doors, and the secrets they hold, are meant to stay closed and locked, until the child is feeling safe enough to disclose . . . . it is very important to acknowledge the child's sense of timing . . . and work within his "therapeutic window" to avoid overwhelming.
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Kibera Slum School, Kenya.
Kibera Slum School, Kenya.
Huge bombs are falling on the lovely, detailed, house of this ten-year-old Syrian boy, with its fancy curtains and flower garden. We notice the latches on the front door are emphasized, symbolizing welcome, and the residence is proudly displaying the Syrian flag.
A stretcher with a severely injured, bleeding child is being carried to a Red Crescent (Red Cross) vehicle, but another child, bleeding, lies on the ground, perhaps dead. Bombs appear to be striking a woman in blue, perhaps the mother, who is trying to reach the child , bleeding, herself, who is attempting to reach the injured child on the ground. See the army vehicle used for hanging. Note the expression on the faces, the details the child remembers -- the fire from the bomb blasts that is blue . . the baggy pants of the the Red Crescent worker.
Repeatedly, children in the camps beg to return to their homes.
Photos in the above two rows and several single shots (nearer the beginning of this page and labelled Kibera) were taken at Kibera Slum School, Kenya, where Mr. Elisha Ooga is Principal and Director, caring for 267 primarily orphaned elementary through secondary aged children by donation only.
