“For Peaceful Coexistence, Address the High Level of Trauma among IDPs as they Return Home”, Fr. Mark Appealed
“For Peaceful Coexistence, Address the High Level of Trauma among IDPs as they Return Home”, Fr. Mark Appealed
By Baraka John
A Parish priest said, there is a quick need to conduct sessions of trauma healing for the returning population who were displaced from Tambura to neighboring counties about two years ago. This he said, will enable the IDPs to forget experiences of the conflict they had undergone.
During the interview on Saturday, 18th March 2023, Fr. Mark lamented that “if the high level of trauma among the IDPs is not addressed, then it will be difficult for them (IDPs) to coexist and do something tangible to sustain their living”.
“Now we need to address the level of trauma which is too high, because some people as they are coming, they are not going back to their original homes where they were staying before, because of the high level of trauma, they will remain in their garden because of psychological fear”, Fr. Mark stated.
He also said, people who witnessed their dear ones being killed in cold blood, find it difficult to return to those homes where the killing took place, therefore, they need trauma healing and peacebuilding to live in harmony and coexistence.
“Because of a psychological fear, the level of trauma is too high, especially among those who witnessed their dear ones being killed in cold blood in their presence, to go home to stay in the same home where they were attacked and killed in cold blood, it is not easy, therefore, to enable those people to settle down psychologically, physically fit to do something for themselves, they need trauma healing and peacebuilding”, he explained.
On the 10th of March 2023, hundreds of internally displaced persons who fled the Tambura conflict to Ezo county, returned to their homes to begin a new life.
The real cause of the conflict that broke out in 2020 and killed hundreds and displaced thousands of civil populations, is yet to be established, despite several committees sent to the area to conduct fact findings on the conflict.
