Refugee-children between 6 and 12 years old , coming with their parents or family to Belgium, from a violent or problematic context, are living in the refugee-centre “ Klein Kasteeltje Brussels” . If possible, these... [ view full abstract ]
Refugee-children between 6 and 12 years old , coming with their parents or family to Belgium, from a violent or problematic context, are living in the refugee-centre “ Klein Kasteeltje Brussels” . If possible, these children go to school, but once the schoolyear started, it is very difficult for them to get a place , so they stay in the asylumcentre doing nothing... For weeks, months, sometimes years.
As an OT it is our task to support people who are living in social injustice, we can support the children with occupational therapy , preparing them for future integration.
Occupational deprivation is not something that starts when refugees are reaching a country where they ask to stay, it starts yet before families decide to leave their homes, when the occupational life can’t go on as always and when roles, tasks, occupational identities are lost, and have to change dramatically. Children who are refugees, experience consequences of occupational deprivation , even more when they have to wait in a country till they can get a residence card..
Waiting in insecure circumstances, causes health problems, psychological and social problems, a different social behavior in order to survive.
We believe that we can strenghten the children in their Spirit of Survivors ( Occupational Therapy without borders), listening their story, motivating them in creative therapy, looking for their potential and offering them opportunities to play, to laugh, to tell their story and to build up their identity: Doing, Being, Becoming, and Belonging…
