New Home and New Beginning
Children learn to live without fear after returning from conflict zones.
Adina Mahidilova* remembers the day her two nephews arrived in Jalal-Abad, in the south of Kyrgyzstan: “My nephews were really scared. They didn't hug me or hold my hand. And I was really worried about how they were feeling.”
Her nephews were brought back to Kyrgyzstan from Iraq as part of a mission called “Meerim”, which means “mercy” in Kyrgyz. They were among 79 children brought to Kyrgyzstan in March 2021.
When the children arrived, Adina didn't even have a home. She rented an apartment where she lived with her two children, and it was hard for her to take care of her two nephews.
To help the children settle in with their extended family, UNICEF provided some basic support.
“They gave us money to buy clothes, shoes, and school supplies,” says Adina.
The two boys had to get used to the school lessons and life in a new place. Besides dealing with catching up on subjects and the language difference, they also faced mental health challenges like many others coming from conflict zones. One of the children stopped talking after witnessing his father and brother killed by a bomb.
Since then, they have made a lot of progress. They have learned numbers, letters, and, most importantly, they've become more comfortable talking to others.
“Now he comes to me and talks about what he liked in the food he ate, what he dreamed about, and what he had at home, which is a big achievement,” says teacher Feruza Abdulayeva*.
UNICEF arranged training sessions and workshops for teachers to help these children settle into their new community faster and more smoothly.
The teacher mentioned that this experience was also helpful for the children because they learned to be tolerant and gained skills to communicate with classmates who were different from them.
According to the Kyrgyz Government, about 400 children and 200 women – citizens of Kyrgyzstan - are in prisons in Syria and Iraq. In August 2019, Kyrgyzstan started a big effort to bring children back from the conflict zones. The repatriation and reintegration activities were part of an EU-UN program that supported the Central Asian states in helping their citizens return from Syria and Iraq.
*names changed to keep anonymity
