“Children’s welfare our only concern”

Among the civilians trapped in the North due to the present military conflict, the most affected and hurt are the children. Most of the children caught up in the war are psychologically or physically affected and Save the Children has expressed deep concern regarding their plight. The head of the Save the Children, UK, who also heads Save the Children globally Jasmine Whitbread was last week in Colombo to ascertain for herself the actual situation. In an exclusive interview with The Nation, she said that one of the top priorities of the organisation in a conflict and fragile country is to establish safe places that would enable the children to play and recover from the present trauma. “We use art and play therapy which gradually helps a child to forget his/her traumatic experiences and get back to a sense of normalcy. Looking forward, it is very important for us to support the reunification of children with their families and safe movement back to their villages and where they have come from,” she said. She further said that to further enhance early childhood development, Save the Children also plans to set up a trust fund with a collection of 1.4 million pounds, and hopefully equal amounts from other donors. The trust fund will help the Sri Lankan Government streamline pre- schools nationwide, she said. Read more ...