• Case Study: Trauma and Child Soldiers in Uganda/Devastation in Rwanda and Zimbabwe
  
  Weekly Topic Overview:  This week we will learn about the experiences of Ugandan child soldiers. We will explore the factors that have led to so many children being abducted and forcibly conscripted into fighting in the armed conflict, especially with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony. Our aim is to examine the forms of abduction and the indoctrination methods used to obtain and “train” child soldiers. We will also review the means employed to solidify child soldiers’ loyalty to their armed units during their service. In exploring these methods and means, we will pay particular attention to the psychological effects they have had during and following child soldiers’ active duty. We will also specifically discover what long-term effects the trauma of child soldiering has had on the soldiers themselves, their families and their home communities. We will seek to answer the question regarding which types of approaches seem to be most effective in helping former child soldiers work to recover from the trauma of their soldiering experiences. Finally, we will attempt to delineate ways in which future child soldiering can be diminished, if not completely eliminated, around the world.
  
  Weekly Learning Objectives:

  This week you will...

  1. Examine the issue and full scope of child soldiering in Northern Uganda.

  2. Identify the various psychological effects and in particular, the effects that the trauma of child soldiering has had on child soldiers, their families and  their communities both in the short- and long-term.

  3. Determine some effective and culturally-astute ways of supporting child soldiers’ recovery from the general psychological effects and the trauma    resulting from forced their child soldiering.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Case Study : Trauma and Street Kids in South Africa

Weekly Topic Overview:  This week will consist of our final case study examination, which focuses on the experiences of street children in South Africa. In this examination, we will first work to determine the current situation regarding South Africa's street children population. We will start by

asking why there are children and youth living in the streets in the first place. We will help answer this question by outlining some of the social, economic, and political factors that are contributing to this particular situation. We will then turn our attention to the experiences of children and youth living in the streets, including an analysis of the sorts of traumatic experiences they face both in acute instances and on an ongoing daily basis. We will conclude by working to understand how South Africa's street children and youth are dealing with traumatic experiences and the extreme hardship of living on the streets without their families, often distant from their family homes. Our goal is to gain a broader understanding of what causes children to have to live in the streets, how those children are dealing with the situation, and how organizations can better assist these children to live healthier, happier, and safer lives.

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Weekly Learning Objectives:

This week you will...

1. Gain a better and broader understanding of the situation regarding children and youth living in the streets in South Africa.

2. Analyze the experiences South African children and youth have with trauma and how they are responding to the trauma(s) they face.

3. Determine ways in which organizations designed to work with children and youth living in the streets can better assist street children not only in South Africa but also around the globe.