Rwanda's Children: Traumatized Beyond Belief

In March 1996, the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, released a shocking study on the impact of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda on children. The study found unprecedented levels of exposure to traumatic events and said massive, long-term psychological treatment would be necessary.

Some of the UNICEF study's findings are so shocking that they almost defy belief. Fully 95 percent of Rwanda's children witnessed violence and killing during the 1994 massacres. Nearly 80 percent of the children lost immediate family members. More than one-third actually witnessed the murder of a close relative.

UNICEF’s representative in Rwanda, Dan Toole, detailed some of the study's other findings in a presentation to reporters in Nairobi.

“Ninety percent of the children believed they would die. This is something that marks children for life. If you really believe you are so threatened you are going to die, and fully 60 percent of the children were actually threatened themselves with being killed. Eighty-seven percent of the children saw dead bodies. Probably, many of you in this room, were you not reporters, you would not have seen dead bodies in your life. It is not something that is normal. It's an exposure that is very traumatic for young children.”

But the horror did not stop there. Mr. Toole says the vast majority of children had to hide to protect themselves -- often under gruesome circumstances.

“Eighty percent of children had to hide. 16 percent of children had to hide under dead bodies. Truly a traumatic experience to force yourself to bury yourself under dead bodies so that you're not then killed yourself.”

The study is based on interviews with over three-thousand children between eight and 19 years of age throughout Rwanda. Half were children living with families. The other half were orphans or children separated from their parents and now living in so-called unaccompanied children's centers.

Mr. Toole says the long-term consequences of childhood exposure to violence include various forms of stress, ranging from nightmares to fears that they will not survive to adulthood.

“The majority of children even a year after the genocide think of the killings, think of the violence they have seen even when they try not to. These are recurring memories that are disruptive to their normal development. Over two-thirds try to stay away from the events, the places, the reminders that bring them back those memories. It's a normal reaction. But when we see two-thirds of a population doing it, it's a very severe situation."

Because of the dimensions of the trauma, UNICEF says it is impossible to have individual counseling for every child. Instead, UNICEF has launched a massive program of training for social workers, teachers, health specialists and others. Mr. Toole says that to date, over six thousand people have undergone training in basic trauma identification and alleviation techniques.

The UNICEF Rwanda director says that through the training program, over 145-thousand children have so far been helped to face their frightening past and put on the road to recovery.

Still, one UNICEF official says there is a long way to go. The agency estimates there are literally tens of thousands more children who still need assistance to prevent long-term adverse consequences related to the atrocities they witnessed and endured.