July unrest: Children were traumatised

KwaZulu-Natal children were traumatised and went hungry when violence spread through the province last July.

Childline KZN acting director Adeshini Naicker told TimesLIVE the child protection organisation received numerous calls during the unrest.

“Many of the children were afraid for themselves and families. Children were traumatised by the level of violence they were seeing. Children were also calling to tell us they were starving,” she said.

Naicker said the riots, so soon after lockdown, had a negative effect on SA children's emotional wellbeing.

“Some children lost parents and siblings. Some of them were stigmatised because their families were involved in the looting and unrest.”

She said the message sent out by looters was concerning.

“The message that you can walk in and take what you want without concern about recourse is a worry. While we try on a daily basis to empower children to be the best versions of themselves, it's concerning when their role models and caregivers portray a different image.”

A study, titled “Community Disaster Exposure and First Onset of Depression: A Panel Analysis of Nationally Representative South African Data, 2008-2017”, published in the PLOS Climate journal three weeks ago, has revealed that people exposed to a disaster in their community are likely to experience depression in the long-term.

The findings of the decade-long study of more than 17,000 South Africans by University of KwaZulu-Natal and international researchers are consistent with systematic review evidence that points to the depression challenges of individuals exposed to “stressful and catastrophic events”.

TimesLIVE

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