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This profile was automatically generated using 1 reference found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
This profile was automatically generated using 1 reference found on the Internet. This information has not been verified. Learn more...
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1. Reuniting Rwanda's Families Child by Child
www.intrescom.org/news/index.c - [Cached]Published on: 5/1/2000 Last Visited: 4/25/2002
But the tide has recently turned, in large part due to the tireless work of Wayne Bleier, the International Rescue Committee's reunification coordinator in Congo-Brazzaville. Since his arrival in early 1999, the former family therapist has developed an innovative program that is helping convince the children that it is safe to return home.
Image, Rwanda For a long time, this 17-year old refused to speak about the horrors he experienced or provide clues as to the whereabouts of relatives. One day, in a drawing exercise, he sketched a house and part of an address - which turned out to be his grandmother's. IRC was able to locate her and bring the two together.
Mr. Bleier emphasizes that patience is critical when dealing with such traumatized children. "Reunification takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to these kids. I knew that all the tracing in the world wasn't going to get them home," he says. "First we had to develop credibility and trust, and eventually work to rekindle positive memories of their life in Rwanda. The only way we could do this was to give these kids compelling information that their families are alive and that it's safe to return - information more compelling than the bad stories they were being told."
In Rwanda, the IRC set up a team to trace families. Once family and relatives are found, they are interviewed, photographed, videotaped and asked to write letters to the children. In Congo-Brazzaville, Mr. Bleier and his team gradually introduce this material to the children in a transit center established away from the camps and the negative influences of the genocidaires.
"Little by little, we started breaking the propaganda. More and more came forward, wanting to leave," says Mr. Bleier. So far, 55 children previously considered "unreunifiable" have either rejoined or are set to rejoin their families - the first children to repatriate from the camps in two years. Now the success of the project has led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to request the IRC expand its program to assist elderly and adult refugees in their decisions to go home.
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