Counselling and therapeutic after-school clubs needed to help child survivors of terrorism

An appeal launched earlier this year has provided compassionate and age-approproate trauma counselling – both psychological and, where appropriate, spiritual – for the most severely-affected students in Bobo-Dioulasso. The child-friendly counselling sessions are a mixture of group work – exploring subjects such as fear, stress and trauma – along with individual consultations with the counsellor who listens to each child’s story and begins to equip them with relevant coping mechanisms.

We now need to increase the support we provide through targeted therapeutic activities. These have been carefully designed to develop useful life skills and also connect students positively with their rural roots. This includes after-school clubs focusing on gardening and carpentry; activities they will be familiar with from their home villages, providing a sense of continuity and stability.

Please can you help?

£24.95 pays for vital trauma counselling and spiritual care for one child

£129 can buy a bench and desk set to help furnish the counselling room

£266 would cover the salary of the gardening trainer for three months

£399 ensures that the carpentry trainer’s costs are covered for three months

£2,096 provides for training materials for 50 children for a whole year

£3,000 would be sufficient for all the equipment required for carpentry training