Berliner Boersenzeitung - The precious rucksacks key to unlocking Ukrainian kids' war trauma

EUR -
AED 4.259901
AFN 80.025133
ALL 97.711411
AMD 445.495328
ANG 2.075662
AOA 1063.520725
ARS 1461.313491
AUD 1.780282
AWG 2.087609
AZN 1.968524
BAM 1.94273
BBD 2.343335
BDT 141.011352
BGN 1.953213
BHD 0.437255
BIF 3293.782618
BMD 1.159783
BND 1.486897
BOB 8.020045
BRL 6.467532
BSD 1.160592
BTN 99.570146
BWP 15.606011
BYN 3.798148
BYR 22731.739193
BZD 2.331217
CAD 1.590764
CDF 3347.132681
CHF 0.930447
CLF 0.029229
CLP 1121.66032
CNY 8.319072
CNH 8.33432
COP 4675.849165
CRC 585.362002
CUC 1.159783
CUP 30.734239
CVE 110.817595
CZK 24.668653
DJF 206.117012
DKK 7.463421
DOP 69.917517
DZD 150.580385
EGP 57.304162
ERN 17.396739
ETB 158.368742
FJD 2.616932
FKP 0.863296
GBP 0.866503
GEL 3.142858
GGP 0.863296
GHS 12.064878
GIP 0.863296
GMD 82.921733
GNF 10039.078744
GTQ 8.907078
GYD 242.715052
HKD 9.104265
HNL 30.560756
HRK 7.536244
HTG 152.384837
HUF 400.562283
IDR 18870.590921
ILS 3.904913
IMP 0.863296
INR 99.731505
IQD 1519.315222
IRR 48855.842821
ISK 142.398459
JEP 0.863296
JMD 185.472243
JOD 0.822297
JPY 172.727006
KES 150.19356
KGS 101.419051
KHR 4662.325592
KMF 492.472652
KPW 1043.831738
KRW 1609.047538
KWD 0.354517
KYD 0.967193
KZT 610.393603
LAK 25010.712255
LBP 103858.532609
LKR 349.419297
LRD 233.116082
LSL 20.759492
LTL 3.424537
LVL 0.701541
LYD 6.28025
MAD 10.50937
MDL 19.614047
MGA 5137.837115
MKD 61.148625
MMK 2435.175411
MNT 4157.64358
MOP 9.384168
MRU 46.066614
MUR 52.613556
MVR 17.855316
MWK 2013.96807
MXN 21.887951
MYR 4.919785
MZN 74.179556
NAD 20.762149
NGN 1773.840811
NIO 42.676024
NOK 11.900848
NPR 159.312234
NZD 1.950836
OMR 0.445929
PAB 1.160592
PEN 4.136366
PGK 4.700016
PHP 65.873291
PKR 330.131936
PLN 4.262686
PYG 8986.543412
QAR 4.222308
RON 5.077994
RSD 117.132282
RUB 90.548819
RWF 1663.128265
SAR 4.350035
SBD 9.648881
SCR 16.405624
SDG 696.458003
SEK 11.285259
SGD 1.491185
SHP 0.911407
SLE 26.091309
SLL 24320.066057
SOS 662.811839
SRD 43.450673
STD 24005.158474
SVC 10.154685
SYP 15079.319791
SZL 20.771534
THB 37.819325
TJS 11.095158
TMT 4.070837
TND 3.364819
TOP 2.716321
TRY 46.644026
TTD 7.878994
TWD 34.101118
TZS 3029.935605
UAH 48.532996
UGX 4160.013685
USD 1.159783
UYU 47.301779
UZS 14735.037795
VES 132.428363
VND 30313.818018
VUV 138.597684
WST 3.182696
XAF 651.573567
XAG 0.030685
XAU 0.000348
XCD 3.134371
XDR 0.810637
XOF 650.638158
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.914227
ZAR 20.806689
ZMK 10439.426614
ZMW 26.489791
ZWL 373.449528
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

The precious rucksacks key to unlocking Ukrainian kids' war trauma
The precious rucksacks key to unlocking Ukrainian kids' war trauma / Photo: Daniel MIHAILESCU - AFP/File

The precious rucksacks key to unlocking Ukrainian kids' war trauma

As refugees flooded over the Romanian border nearly a year ago, one thing struck British-Ukrainian volunteer Anna Shevchenko -- every child was carrying a little rucksack.

Text size:

With Ukrainian kids now trying to rebuild their lives in new homes, the story of those rucksacks has become the focus of a project aimed at tackling their trauma.

Last February, after Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed war in Ukraine, Shevchenko headed for Romania where she worked as a volunteer welcoming mothers and children who had fled the invasion.

"I noticed that every single child was holding a little rucksack as their prized possession, as everything they had from their old life," the business consultant and novelist told AFP in London.

Travelling back to the UK, Shevchenko had the idea of using those rucksacks as the focus of a therapy programme.

Within weeks, she had put together a network of mostly Ukrainian expats determined to help.

She also enlisted seasoned English children's author Di Redmond to write a story inspired by the notion that all the young refugees' memories were held in this one bag.

"It really got into my psyche and I more or less wrote the book in my sleep overnight," Redmond told AFP.

Redmond said that Ukrainian illustrator Lilia Martynyuk then produced a string of "moving and powerful" pictures, working from her basement in the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia.

Redmond, who has published nearly 200 books, normally makes children laugh with her prolific output, which includes scripts for television series such as "Postman Pat".

- Kids 'drink it in' -

In "Rucksack", however, she tells the heartbreaking story of a little boy who is forced to leave Ukraine but loses his bag along the way.

He retraces his steps with a friend to the bombed-out home he has just been forced to flee.

When he can't find the lost rucksack, he breaks down and his friend takes him to the nearest underground shelter in the Kyiv Metro.

There he is given a new rucksack, but this only makes him cry even more, "because it's got no memories", said Redmond.

He then begins the journey back to his new home and starts to build fresh memories he knows he will one day bring back to his home in Ukraine.

Dennis Ougrin, originally from Ukraine and now a consultant hospital psychiatrist in London, said the book chimed with important issues facing traumatised children.

"The key value of the book is that it allows the child and whoever cares for the child to begin to speak about what happened, often about something that's unspeakable," he said.

Ougrin and collaborators began taking the book into schools last September, using it alongside a programme developed by the charity Children and War UK.

Redmond was struck by the children's reaction. While the book made their parents weep, the kids would "really drink it in (and) turn the pages, very, very slowly".

Bill Yule, emeritus professor in child psychology at King's College London, said many parents were afraid that talking about the war would damage their children.

- 'Taboo topic' -

"The kids are very sensitive to the parents' reactions," noted Yule, who is working with Ougrin on the project.

"By them seeing the book... the parents can see that the kids aren't damaged by talking about it," he said.

The team has taken the book to UK schools that have served as hubs for Ukrainian refugees.

But other schools have requested help too, and it is also attracting interest in other countries hosting refugees.

At one event, Shevchenko said that as she read, she could see the English children turn to the Ukrainians and ask: "is this something you've experienced?".

"It was really heartwarming and most cathartic to see these English children give the Ukrainian children a hug," she said.

"The children beforehand were a bit uncomfortable to talk about it," she said.

"It was the same again with the teachers... they were worried about how to approach an almost taboo topic."

Some schools revealed that Ukrainian children had felt unwelcome due to their classmates' lack of awareness of their war experience.

But after reading the book, "we've seen the children holding hands and taking them (the Ukrainian children) to the library so they can read it and discuss it with the Ukrainian kids", Shevchenko said.

(Y.Berger--BBZ)