Daily Stressors of Internally Displaced Children in Somaliland

Kostelnv and Ondoro address the mental health issues related to war ridden areas in Somaliland and Puntland. Somaliland is located in the horn of Africa and the northwest region of Somali. In 1991, Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia and has its own currency, and government structures. While the civil war between Somaliland and Somalia officially ended in 1991, people are still enduring lasting effects from the war. This article particularly addresses the mental health effects of children living in this post-conflict environment. Nearly 60 million people had been displaced by 2014 due to the war in Somalia and is is estimated about half of these people are children (UNHCR 2015). The article takes a qualitative approach to address how structural violence resulting from the civil war currently affects children who did not directly experience war trauma. Structural violence includes child protection risks like poverty, no access to education, sanitation issues, heavy child labor, child sexual exploitation, substance abuse, and parental neglect and physical child abuse.

This study conducted 36 group discussions with 328 adult and teenage male and females (ages 13-older than 30) in 3 IDP populated areas in Somaliland and Puntland (an autonomous state of Somali since 1998). This research sought to convey the importance of the lived experince of the children in its methods. After participants were interviewed a comprehensive list of child harms was created and participants were asked to rank them from 1st most serious harm to 3rd most serious harm.

Researchers analyzed patterns and categories of harm that were identified inductively from the transcripts of the group interviews and were then analyzed by age group and gender. An overarching pattern that emerged was the issue of poor economic situation and was identified as a main cause of the other harms described. The main harms to children identified from the interviews included neglect, out of school, beatings, rape, and hard work. Other daily stressors included substance use such as khat, sniffing glue, and alcohol use, being burned by fires, gangs, living in the streets and lack of sanitation. The researchers found that the most commonly identified serious harm between all 3 locations was lack of education, with girls being more severely affected. There were some gender and age related differences. Teens and young adults of both genders ranked lack of education higher than older adults. Women more often ranked neglect of children as the most serious harm, while men and teen girls ranked rape more often and teen boys ranked substance abuse more often.

In review the researchers share the importance of economic stability as poverty is the main factor contributing to the identified child harms. It leaves children in a vulnerable state, unable to attend school in which exposes them to a number of dangerous situations that create life long problems including mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress. It is important for child protection to be built into the structure and systems in place in Somaliland. This article was important for me to read in relation to our project with Fatumo in Somaliland to identify the main risks children are facing in the post-conflict environment. My group is planning to implement a mental health awareness campaign for youth in Somaliland. We must address the daily struggles that children in Somaliland face for our awareness strategies to be effective. It was also interesting to read the gender and age differences for needs of support. This is something we must consider for our project. A common pattern that has been identified in this research and time and time again since we have began our project is that we must listen and put great weight on the personal experiences of these children. It is the only way we can successfully design a program that will work within their community.

Reference

Kostelny, K., & Ondoro, K. (2016). Structural violence and the everyday stresses of internally displaced children in Somaliland and Puntland. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 22(3), 226–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/pac0000171