24 November
2015
After my
journey to Turkey, only encountering some delay in Istanbul, I have settled in
quite nicely. The journey was easier
than I expected and already far more
rewarding than I imagined. Gaziantep has a population of about 2,000,000
people, half of which are Syrians. One-by-one helpful residents who simply want
to be kind. The city of Gaziantep is
situated some 97 kilometres north of Aleppo, but I don’t notice much of
the war in Syria. Besides a large police presence on the highways and tight security at shopping malls, hotels
and public places the war might as well be in a country far away from here. So
I feel safe and protected.
Many and
most stories of the Syrian Civil War will never be told. A relaxed smoke break
however turned instantly into a surreal moment when a Syrian aid worker spontaneously started
telling me about his detention by ISIS for several months. Outside on a small balcony this young man
gave me the full picture of the awfulness of war. Some things he experienced
and saw, he will never forget. He was grateful for me being there, and I am
grateful for being able to help him and so many others devastated by the
horrors of war.
Momentarily
my thoughts are occupied with what the intervention team and I have to
expect, and how we can help as many
people such as the young Syrian I spoke to on that balcony, in a relatively
short period of time. I am a trained trauma psychologist and so many people
desperately need our help. I am going to
do the best I can. Our team consists of an Australian psychologist, two Arabic
speaking crisis interventionists from Lebanon and Jordan, a mission leader and
myself. Most of us speak English
however, so we get by. The last few days our team has been busy with intake
interviews, safety briefings and setting up a plan of action.
After the
initial intake interviews I expect many of the traumatised aid workers we spoke
to want to be treated. Despite my heavy workload and responsibilities back at
home in the Netherlands, it feels good to be here and to do my bit in a place
which left, and will still leave, so many scarred for life.
.....
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