Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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Approaches to dealing with trauma caused by war and political repressionWilliam Saa, 2002 International Fellow at Responding to Conflict, reflects on his experience of a Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Project following the Civil War in Liberia
This is how a woman at a seminar used the metaphor of an earthquake in a vivid description of her family conflicts. The metaphor applies just as well to the experience of the civil war in Liberia and the challenges it poses for dealing with the past. Snapshots of the complex realityFor seven years, from 1989 to 1996, a dirty civil war took place in Liberia during which almost one in ten Liberians lost their lives. The rest of the population either became displaced several times over or fled for refuge to neighbouring countries. These horrors and sufferings have left an indelible mark on the psyche of communities in Liberia. Atrocities were perpetrated by neighbour against neighbour; friend against friend; family against family; community against community. Attempts from the outside to resolve the problems have sometimes made matters worse. To quote from a paper presented at the West Africa Network for Peace Building: 'The misconception by the international community that elections constitute a major tool for conflict resolution has very often led to hastily organized elections as a means of settling political disputes. Experience from Liberia belies this theory. Instead, western-style elections have further deepened the rifts between already factionalised communities.'2 Today, five years on from the elections in 1997, which was won by one of the former warring factions, the country has a democratically elected government. There is peace, but it is a fragile peace and the physical and psychological damage wrought by the war remains a heavy burden on the country. The challenge now is to determine how traumatized individuals and communities can live side by side with the perpetrators of their sufferings. Cross stitchingBy cross stitching, I mean comparing the experience of dealing with trauma in different circumstances and countries. In November 2001, I was as a guest in Bad Boll, Germany, at a meeting of over 50 elderly men and women who had come together to share their painful memories and experiences of the past. The meeting now takes place annually and provides an opportunity for the participants, many of them in their sixties or seventies, to talk about what they went through as children during the war - a war which ended nearly sixty years ago. I was invited to share my experience of working with the Trauma Healing Project in Liberia. Here is a passage from my talk. 'In the aftermath of violent conflict, peace is not simply the absence of violence. Those who have experienced violence and war need also to experience healing. To remain unhealed is to remain traumatized. Healing in this case implies more than economic or political empowerment - it has to take place in relationships amongst both victims and victimisers. The earlier this takes place the better; but still, better late than never! Perhaps, this is why (sixty) years after the German experience, we are here today speaking still about the trauma caused by that war. Trauma is like a solid rock we swallow, and it is important to realize that it will not simply melt in there. But recalling the past can be frightening and painful and it is little wonder that some people don't want to talk about it. However, if we don't, we remain traumatized and stuck in the past; and as parents, friends, leaders, we intentionally or unintentionally transmit our traumas to other generations who then become victims of events in which they did not directly participate. If a parent or a caregiver suffers from post-traumatic symptoms such as aggression, bitterness, hate, lack of trust and confidence, the rising generation will learn these symptoms and exhibit them also. In this way a whole society can become traumatised.' It was alarming the feedback I received from a number of people in this group during casual discussions. Many of them told me that their emotions had remained completely disrupted throughout all those years. They also had a sense of helplessness regarding their situation. There were other problems too, which I will not go into here. However, one question the experience raised in my mind concerned the right moment to intervene, given that healing takes place at a different pace for each individual. Should the process of dealing with trauma begin immediately the war ends? Or should the decision depend on the culture in the society concerned? And if we agree that trauma causes paralysis, when shall we intervene to help those powerless and helpless victims? Two tied thinking : Which way?Here, two tied thinking refers to the different schools of thought about how to approach dealing with trauma. Some outsiders coming to visit Liberia have argued that the trauma of the war is so widespread, it is pointless to approach it from the perspective of 'individual psychotherapy'. They argue that it is just not possible to conduct psychotherapy on an individual basis for a traumatized population of over 1.5 million. Again, I am confronted with another question - isn't it rather presumptuous of us to think that 'trauma healing' is possible in a society where both the governors and the governed have been traumatized by the civil war? The Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program (THRP) recognizes, and indeed is based on the premise, that post-war trauma is a widespread problem in Liberia. Whole communities are traumatized and suffer from a kind of paralysis. Individuals and family members are estranged from each other. Even the authorities and the general population fear and mistrust one another. The paradox is that civil wars are generally fought to redress grievances, but in the end these become submerged by new grievances generated by the war itself. And difficult as it is to deal with the resulting problems, if they are left un-addressed, they can ruin a whole nation. I was myself a victim of the Liberian civil war and found myself at a crossroads where I had to decide how to respond. At first I was planning to return violence with violence. Later, however, I began the search for the strength and courage to face the past constructively. This is not easy when one is overloaded with ugly memories of what happened. I was struggling with my own trauma arising out of the pain and suffering I had endured during the war. Though I have not forgotten the past, I have learned to face constructively the realities of the present, and to develop some sense of the future. This has contributed significantly to my journey forward. Working with both the offended and offenders in the Liberian civil war, I have found that traumatized people are often stuck in the past and become apathetic. They tend to forget the present and to disregard the future. Such people need help to accept the fact that yesterday has gone, that the present too will pass, and that it is vital not only to plan for the future but to do something concrete now in order to make it better. To understand and deal with trauma, it is crucial to see it in relation to the particular cultural context in which it arises. This, however, requires critical re-thinking of many entrenched concepts and well-established practices. As Gene Hoffman comments in her book, No Royal Road to Reconciliation: 'New responses, radically different from those we have used before, must be made in this radically new situation. We must move beyond outmoded concepts into realms we have not yet considered or discovered, trusting that new divine possibilities will always open to us.3' In April 2000, a guest counsellor from Germany visited Liberia for the first time. During her six weeks stay in the country, we had the opportunity to exchange experiences about Germany and Liberia, and to observe the work of the THRP. When she returned to Germany, she wrote a report and sent me some notes that have become a part of my learning tools.
At another meeting in Bad Boll in Germany attended by doctors, therapists, experts and victims, the topic under discussion was children who had experienced war, now and in the past. I joined the other participants a few days before my departure for Liberia. Increasingly doctors and therapists realise how early traumatic experiences in times of war and repression affect many elderly people. As their vigour diminishes, they display symptoms which reveal the psychic wounds they have hidden from their consciousness down the years. Immediately after the war it was not opportune to talk about the trauma people had suffered. Everybody was too busy trying to settle down and avoided looking back at a disastrous history. In addition, there was a lack of experience and knowledge of how to handle the effects of traumatic shock. Engaging with traumatised people requires not only individual therapy but the reconstruction of social networks which are often destroyed in the course of a war. When the two processes occur side by side, there is a reciprocal effect. This is the crucial lesson I learned from my experience in working in Liberia.4 The Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Program (THRP)During, and soon after, the civil war in Liberia, several organizations tried to intervene, mostly by providing emergency humanitarian relief and other material assistance. The THRP was established in the conviction that unless the traumas and social wounds caused by the war were also addressed, and reconciliation encouraged between and amongst individuals and communities, Liberia stood little chance of recovery. In most respects THRP is a very traditional Trauma Healing and Reconciliation programme, its most valuable resource being a devoted local staff with good contacts in the wider society. Because the program has evolved in close contact with society, a multitude of different concepts and methods has been created. A fundamental aspect of the program is that it is community-based and inclusive, dealing with people irrespective of political, social, or religious affiliation. The inspiration behind the THRP is a belief in a moral and forgiving God. But the approach is essentially secular with a strong commitment to interacting directly with people and taking account of their own theories and values rather than imposing scholarly theories from the outside. This interactive approach probably accounts to a significant extent for the headway the programme has made. The paramount activity of the THRP is creating awareness and facilitating processes of healing and reconciliation, concentrating particularly on key actors in local communities. The objective of the workshops and group meetings is to provide a forum for people who have usually been too afraid to meet in other situations because of their bad experiences in the war. The meetings thus create a starting point for the healing and reconciliation processes. The basic themes in the programme are understanding the conflict, and the benefits of forgiving and seeking forgiveness for the bad things that took place during the war, thereby enabling people to restart 'normal' life and put the past behind them. One of the insights guiding the work of the THRP is that building peace and achieving reconciliation is a long process, not the result of a single decision; and that genuine reconciliation and healing require the active involvement of the people themselves. Key aspects of the programme are that it is dynamic, flexible and responsive. It has been developed in response to felt needs, and to issues raised by community participants and others. Initially (1995/1996), the project focused mainly on work among refugees in Liberia's neighbouring countries - Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana - because of the difficulties of working in Liberia at that time. In 1997, when it became possible to return to Liberia, the THRP expanded its community-based work there. From activities which started primarily at the local community level, the THRP today engages various sectors of the population including post-war security personnel, Government officials, local organizations and groups. William Saa References
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