Life is Worth Living - Palestine Journal

OsamaMyB rother Died in Front of My EyesOsama is a nine-year o ld child livingwithh is fami ly in Be it Hanon, one ofthe most areas threatened directly bythe I sraeli a rmy as i t is a border ar ea thatsepa rates the Gaza Strip from Israe l thatrema ins und er a constant th reat of theIsrae li Occupation F orces' incursion.Desp ite thes e dange rs, the family p referredto st ay in their hous e, their source ofprote ction a nd security.This family owns a modest grocery storeoper ates fro m a room withi n the house.Fadi, the eld est son of this family i sresp onsible for this store, which he keptopen evend uring th e war. One day, Fadiopened his g rocery store as usual. At thattime , Osama was at his aunt's hous e anddeci ded to g o home . While goingb ack tohis h ouse, h e heard the sound of a rocketfired by the Israeli Occupation For ces. Thesoun d was r eally close whi ch frigh tenedthe p eople i n the str eet includingO sama.Whe n Fadi left his store to see whe re therocket was h eading, he was fatallywounded.Duri ng that time, Osama was on his wayhome, andw itnesse d all the se even tsincluding his brothe r's deat h. Osam asuffe red fro m a severe state of pan ic inaddition to h is sligh t injury in his back bythe s hrapnel of the rocket. He ente red hishous e scream ing an d crying after hisbrother's dea th in fr ont of his eyes. Hisfami ly was not yet informe d of the ir son'sdeat h, and Osama c ould not tell them untilthey went o ut to the street a nd saw theirsond ead. After the end of the war on Gaza,Osam a went back to school like allstud ents did. After a while he started tosuffer fr om som e symp toms, a matterwhich o bliged t he social work er in hisschool t o interv ene. Af ter that, his fam ilywas contacted. Then it was decided totransfer him to the Com munity Centre ofGaza CommunityMental HealthProgram me. Af ter follo wing up Osam a'scase, it was discovered that he suffere dfrom a number of symp toms includingnervous ness, excessive violence towa rdschildren , bed w etting, fear triggered b ytrivial c auses, problem s with his broth ers,continuous cryi ng, and obsessivepreoccupation of the sc ene of his brot her'sdeath. Gaza Co mmunity Center's teamprepared a therapeutic plan aft er makingnecessa ry medi cal chec k-up fo r him. T heplan inc luded expressiv e thera py like thetherapeu tic app roach of play th erapy, freedrawing and ps ychological debriefing . Thetherapeu tic plan also in cluded following upthe family, espe cially t he moth er who wassuffering from depressionafte r the los s ofher elde r son, F adi and being u nable t o dealwith thi s traum a. The f amily n eededtherapeu tic inte rvention and psychologicalsupport after the latest events in Gaza andthe psyc hologic al impa cts of them tak inginto considerati on the necessit y ofenhancing the s ocial su pport network, andworking on cor recting the neg ativethought s. After intervention an dtherapeuticsessions , Osam a becam e more open toothers. M ost of the sym ptoms that he wassuffering from disappe ared. He started toplay with his fr iends and brothers and hisconcentration o nhis sc hool subjectsimproved.17