On average, the children entering NRC's programmes have four to five nightmares a week. Each time, they relive the war, the destruction of their homes, the death of neighbours, relatives, and they cannot go back to sleep. Many struggle to stay awake during school and to concentrate on their homework. The children suffer from severe trauma that will impair their intellectual and emotional development for the rest of their lives.
Every day, NRC provides psycho-educational support to thousands of children in Gaza, and works with parents, teachers and counsellors to help them overcome the trauma.
Two thirds of the children we work with stop having nightmares.
The images in this film are taken from the ‘Better Learning Program’ implemented by NRC between September 2012 and May 2014 using images from the previous conflicts, across Gaza and the West Bank. The goal of the Better Learning Programme is to regain lost learning capacity, strengthen resilience and promote well-being of children through a school-based intervention combining psychosocial and educational approaches.
