noticed that young women were not attending Schoolbox activities, through discussion it became apparent that there is often nowhere within these cramped living conditions for women to freely take off their hijabs. The women and volunteers together created an evening activity for women only in which they felt safe enough to dance and express themselves. At another time, families expressed
Batseba, Tiff any and Jacqui (in a family’s home)
authorities and non-government organisations makes it difficult to comprehend the full impact of the project’s presence. For example, there were children who spent one year in the camp with no access to formal education, while others go to school after just a few months. In the absence of any evidence that Schoolbox was contributing to the delays, we are left to conjecture that Schoolbox activities are better than no education at all for such lengths of time. However, not only are the local Greek schools better resourced than Schoolbox, they also provide real opportunities for integration and learning Greek language. Volunteers are exposed to the
consequences of these broader situations; families actively respond to their situation to create further contexts of which we can only have limited understanding. For example, project coordinators also became aware of families’ plans to send children ahead alone with smugglers, putting the children at significant risk, in the hope that the rest of the family may later follow. These situations raise ethical issues
around the possible harm that can be brought about through this type of work, as we find ourselves taking positions of political neutrality so as to retain working relationships within these constraining systems. With this in mind, we draw on two central themes in the trauma- informed approach, collaboration and empowerment (Fallot & Harris, 2008), and suggest the following as ways of including such practices in other similar projects.
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Enabling understanding: Volunteers are supporting children
who display high levels of distress that can manifest as behaviour we found challenging, and are supported to understand this behaviour as expressions of needs, trauma, family setting, or more generally, the powerlessness of their situation. To support such shared understandings, weekly ‘child-in-focus’ discussions enable the team to consider and develop individually tailored approaches for particular children, and to recognise positive outcomes. Volunteers become involved in developing ideas, but also learn from the application of theory in group discussion. The project takes a non-expert position
of “cultural humility” (Butler et al., 2011, p. 186), in which the approach is recognised to come from a cultural worldview that may diff er from the beliefs of the families we meet, and volunteers are encouraged to take a stance of curiosity in understanding positions held by families. Spending time with families and showing sensitivity to cultural practices, such as sharing tea, celebration through music and dancing, or language-exchange, can contribute to the deconstruction of perceived and actual diff erences.
Flexibility and working together: As conditions in the camp are continually
shifting, with changes in the demographic of residents, relationships with camp authorities, availability of resources, and so on, such changes bring about a need for fl exibility. For example, when it was
keenness for children to learn to read and write the Arabic script, in addition to the European-language activities. Initially, teenage camp residents were involved in setting up and teaching the classes, with volunteers from the project being invited to support. Collaboration came about not least through recognising the strengths, existing skills and resources of refugee families to build support within their communities (Walsh, 2007), in line with their own values and preferences. In turn, the resident Arabic teachers also helped with classroom support in Schoolbox educational activities.
Developing refl exivity: The project fi nds importance in
giving space to support volunteers and coordinators in refl ecting on our own feelings in relation to this work. Weekly refl ective group meetings facilitate this practice, and can include, for example, the impact on ourselves, and our ongoing relationship to the approach, the setting, and the families. Within this space, volunteers are met with validation, as well as reminders of personal limitations and needs for self-care. Embedded within such refl ective practices come consideration of the vastness of the issues, and recognition of the modest contribution we appear to make. Add to this the frequent theme of endings, when volunteers leave, when families move on, and the realisation of the signifi cance of loss. Such discussions are valuable for recognising the positions we take, shaped through our previous experience, cultural or social backgrounds, privileges or otherwise; such positions that would usually be taken for granted become things that can no longer be assumed or neutral. Above all, we recognise that more needs to be done on political levels, in engaging social action from those who hold, like ourselves, these positions of privilege.
Context 164, August 2019
Refl ections on the value of trauma-informed care in a refugee-camp setting in Greece
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