Eleven years old “Jacob and his two younger brothers were in the boarding school when the shooting began. They had left their mother in the morning, unknowing that the same afternoon indiscriminate gunfire would separate them from her and force hundreds of their countrymen to flee their country. Their father, who was a soldier, had died in combat several months ago”.The family lived in Syria.
– “When the shooting began, we all started running, we were so afraid… We reached the centre of town and managed to get into cars going towards the country border… When we reached the border we got into a lorry that took us to this place… It all happened so fast. We were constantly looking out for our mother but she was nowhere to be found…” Jacob explains looking despairingly towards the shelters of the refugee camp. “She might have gone to visit our aunt in the capital two hours’ drive from our town. That was where the gunfire started…” says Jacob.
Jacob and his brothers are now staying close to some of their friends’ families in the refugee camp. These families help the three boys in receiving a share of the limited supplies in the camp. But they cannot fill the void created by the loss of their mother: – “I cry myself to sleep every night and wake up hearing her voice in the nearby shelters, but it’s never her. I don’t know where she is – or even if she’s still alive, but I keep telling my brothers that she’ll find us soon…,” says Jacob. – “But I don’t know, and I don’t know what to do… We have nothing here.”
Source: (IFRC, 2014b, p. 40).
Imagine you are a social worker in the Refugee Camp where Jacob is. In the children’s play tent, Jacob tells you this story and you know it’s the first time that he’s sharing information about his personal situation and feelings. Afterwards, you are going to schedule a meeting with your co-workers to discuss Jacob’s situation.
In the meeting, you all will analyse the case.
