Week 4

A stressor from childhood:

In 1992 my family and I lived in Miami Florida when hurricane Andrew came through and devastated the area, I was 12 years old at the time. It was one of the scariest things I remember going through as a child. My family and I boarded up the house, filled the bathtubs with water, and tried to stock up on supplies. I remember going in to the grocery stores and the shelves being bare or almost empty of all the perishable foods and water. I remember my mother telling me not to worry we have plenty of food and supplies at home.

We all gathered blankets and pillows, flash lights, and toys and hunkered down in the hallway. During the storm the wind was howling and things were banging into the house. The window in my parent’s room got broken out from debris. The hallway where we were hunkered down in started leaking water. I was too young at the time to understand that the roof was being torn apart from the storm. My parents were trying to find a safer spot that would fit the seven of us, a place with no windows. We went to the garage but when my dad opened the door, there was a huge hole in the garage roof and if wasn’t safe for us to go in. My dad flipped over our couches and put them against the wall and we all climbed under them like a fort. This is where we spent our time during the remainder of the storm.

My parents tried during the duration of the storm to take our minds off of what was going on by telling stories and playing games. The talked to us about what was happening and told us not to worry that they would take care of us and keep us safe. After the hurricane our neighborhood and the surrounding areas were devastated. We were lucky and our house was still livable but many of our neighbors their houses where a complete loss. We were without power or clean water for a while. We gathered supplies, batteries and bottled water and helped deliver them to people in need. We helped cleaned up our neighborhood and where ever it was needed. It was a very stressful time. My parents helped us through this time by talking to us and letting us talk to them.

Stressors in other country/region:

There are many stressors children have to face in Africa such as, communal violence/armed conflict and HIV/AIDS. “The Research Program on Children and Global Adversity (RPCGA) works to close the global implementation gap between the realities facing children and families in adversity…the program operates at the crossroads between research, policy and program design, implementation and evaluation.  The RPCGA is engaged in applied research to contribute to stronger and evidence-based interventions to serve children and families in adversity worldwide.” (The Research Program on Children and Global Adversity [RPCGA], 2012, p. 1).  They have many current projects ongoing. In Rwanda they have a family strengthening intervention going on for families and children affected by HIV/AIDS. The Longitudinal Study of War-Affected Youth – Sierra Leon, the Somali Bantu Refugee Community Project, and the SAFE Project (RPCGA, 2012). These programs study the affect stressors have on children but also offer ways to help reduce the stressors in the children’s lives.

References

The Research Program on Children and Global Adversity. (2012). Program goals. Retrieved from http://fxb.harvard.edu/research-program-on-children-and-global-adversity/