La Guaira, Venezuela —
Ten-year-old Maria continues to recall the moment her mother died and her life changed forever.
Maria and her brother Damian, 13, were taken in by their aunt Mercedes Osul after powerful twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela, destroying their home in the coastal town of Calabareda last month.
“My mother was there,” Maria keeps telling her new caretaker.
Damian is not very vocal and processes everything that has happened to his family differently.
“My nephew didn’t want to talk about it. All he does is play,” Osulu says. Damian spends most of his days on an improvised soccer field with other children who, like him, have lost their homes and are living in one of the many temporary shelters set up to house people displaced by the crisis.
While adults like Osulu are trying to figure out how to rebuild their lives, children are learning to live with fear, sadness, and anxiety, and how to make sense of tragedy.
Damian prefers to spend his afternoons playing soccer, while Maria seeks comfort in candy, her aunt said. An innocent, childish way of dealing with tragedy that is difficult for even most adults to understand.
Experts say there’s no one way to deal with traumatic experiences. That’s why some shelters have so-called “child-friendly spaces” where psychologists and social workers support children and teens through recreation, group activities, guided play and counseling.
Manuel Rodríguez Pumarol, UNICEF representative in Venezuela, told CNN that the goal was not to immediately tell people what happened, but to provide a safe environment to begin processing it.
“Through play and group dynamics, children can begin to express themselves, begin to release the stress and trauma caused by this catastrophe, and begin to regain a sense of security that they have lost,” he says.
World Vision is one of the charities establishing these spaces. Andrea Lasso, the group’s Venezuelan emergency response manager, said the organization has set up eight to 10 mobile spaces in the two hardest-hit areas of Caracas and La Guaira, where children can play board and card games, enjoy arts and crafts, and play sports.
“They need a place to feel safe again, a place to be protected, a place where they can play and interact with other children,” Russo told CNN. “I think that’s important for their recovery and rebuilding their lives.”
That support extends to the adults in charge of the children, who not only help the children overcome their own grief, but also become a pillar of strength for the children.
Oslu himself is also grieving for the mother of his sisters, Maria and Damian. Along with her own two daughters, she is adjusting to life caring for her nieces and nephews.
A psychologist at the shelter advised Osulu not to force Damien to talk about his mother’s death if he didn’t want to, but to use soccer as an outlet for his feelings.
“They told me to let him vent, this is how to vent,” she recalls.
This disaster has completely changed the daily lives of thousands of children. Some have left their homes, while others have lost family, friends, school and, before they know it, their lives.
The challenges in temporary shelters go beyond finding a place to sleep and food. It also includes helping families regain a safe, play and learning space while they look for long-term solutions.
Managing access to shelters remains a challenge, Russo said. Aid organizations need to ensure that shelters are safe places where children are protected from those who would harm them.
“We’ve seen a lot of people who shouldn’t be there and aren’t really affected by it (the crisis) but are just trying to take advantage of the situation and take advantage of our children. This is really evil and it’s very sad,” she told CNN.
UNICEF estimates that around 650,000 people, including around 234,000 children, may need assistance after the earthquake. Rodríguez Pumarol said these include minors who lost their homes or relatives, and those whose homes were not directly affected but who were affected by the disruption of essential services such as drinking water, health care and vaccinations.
“The earthquake took away a lot from the boys and girls. Our role is to ensure that the earthquake does not take away their future,” says Rodríguez Pumarol.
Part of that future depends on whether they can return to school. A UNICEF representative explained that some temporary camps were operating within education centers and efforts were being made to free up these spaces before the start of the next school year.
Last week, Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said the country’s Simón Bolívar Orchestra was teaching children to play musical instruments, toys were being distributed and the Venezuelan Football Federation was setting up soccer fields for children to play.
She said the camp is divided into family units.
Still, returning to normal life doesn’t mean the fear simply goes away.
Rodriguez-Pumaroll said many children continue to face anxiety.
“They stay up late to play out of fear that something might happen while they’re sleeping,” says Rodríguez-Pumaroll.
The disaster created a particularly complex situation for children who were separated from their parents and whose fate was unclear.
Jesuria Vergara, a family law expert, explains that in the absence of parents, the priority of Venezuela’s protection system is to find other relatives to care for the child.
Before considering other measures, Vergara said the child should find out whether there is a next of kin, such as a grandparent, uncle or older sibling, who could temporarily take care of the child until authorities know what happened to the parents.
“If we can definitively prove that the parents are deceased and there is no family available to care for these children, the state can declare them adoptable, which means they can become part of the foster care program,” Vergara explains.
Lawyers warn that even in an emergency, these processes cannot be bypassed. Families wishing to foster a child must undergo an evaluation to determine the child’s suitability and ensure that they can provide a safe environment.
“Institutionalization or adoption is the last resort available in Venezuela,” she says.
For Osuru, the shelter is helping while still dealing with the loss. There, her nieces and nephews receive food, a place to play, and psychological support.
“They give the children recreation and take them to the psychologist. My daughter loves to draw and Damien is into soccer,” she says of her days at the shelter.
But after losing her sister and raising four children, her main need remains to restore a home for all of her children.
“It’s home. Everything else comes after that,” she says.
Until then, Damien, Maria, and thousands of other children like them will be clinging to what they can – sweets and sports – for some solace during the greatest tragedy of their young lives.
