Friendly Spaces: Safe Resort for Child Naji

Ghadeer Taira - Wednesday, 10 August, 2022

Naji Saleh is an eight-year-old, born in Sirwah district, Marib governorate. He is the only child in his family, and despite his young age, he suffered a difficult loss. During the past years, the war stole his dearest possession; his beloved father. He then lived with his mother in his grandfather's house, who took care of him after his mother's re-marriage. Actually, his step-father refused keeping the boy in his house.
 
Naji, like many other Yemeni children, suffers from difficult life, living on bread and water, with the worsening food crisis in the country, and the spread of malnutrition among children. These children suffer improper physical growth since parents became unable to provide even the simplest food, leading children to exposure to more trauma.
 
 
According to UNICEF; "Yemen is witnessing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world - and children are being robbed of their future as nearly 23.7 million people need humanitarian assistance, including some 13 million children".
 
 
NFDHR seeks to reach children with mental disorders or those with specific social, psychological and living vulnerabilities through the UNICEF-funded Child Protection Services Response Project to improve the lives of IDPs and host communities.
 
The case of "Naji" was discovered by a volunteer health worker with NFDHR at Al-Mahjara Rural Hospital, and he was referred to the social worker in the area, who in turn assessed the child's condition and found him to be timid with little to no movement, and complaining a lot, in addition to suffering from disorders such as: excessive sadness and inability to make friendships with others.
The case supervisor developed a plan to treat the child, starting with sitting with the child to provide psychological and social support, and then the team contacted the father's first-degree relatives, who were poor and busy with their lives. They could hardly provide for their own children.
 
The specialist proceeded to search for the mother’s first-degree relatives and one of his uncles responded and accepted the order to provide care for the child. An agreement was made with Mr. Ahmed Mohsen Saleh, Naji's uncle, to accommodate the child within his family and take care of him and join the child in the friendly space. Direct assistance was provided to the child to purchase basic needs of clothes, shoes and school supplies. The child was taken directly to his uncle's house to take care of him.
 
"Naji" has become very fond of the friendly space and feels that it is his favorite place in which he can practice his hobbies such as drawing and playing with other peers, changing his his negative mood that he suffered due to his family's circumstances. Cooperation with others has become an essential feature in Naji and he even takes the initiative while playing with others and sharing their various activities.