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One-of-a-kind program assists children traumatized by war

A team of 20 Syrian volunteers is helping displaced children in Cairo deal with the trauma of war.
Children play along a street on the southern outskirts of the Syrian city of al-Bab, Syria September 16, 2017. Picture taken September 16, 2017. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi - RC1E136FE550
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CAIRO — The original impetus behind Insan, an initiative launched in 2013, was to provide psychological treatment to Syrian children in Egypt suffering from the trauma of the civil war in their home country. In November, the team of Syrian university students currently involved in the program announced that it would now be open to other children who have sought refuge in Egypt, including from Sudan and Yemen.

Team member Abbi Mustafa, a Syrian national and sixth-year medical student at Ain Shams University, told Al-Monitor, “During the [Syrian] war, these children had no access to any psychological support.” The team therefore seeks to provide psychosocial assistance for psychological trauma stemming from fear, loss of friends and family members and seeing or experiencing violence.

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