Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

I was born in Bogota Colombia and lived in Colombia until I was 25 years old.  As a child I believe that one of the stressors I learned about very quickly was the violence that existed in Colombia.  Pablo Escobar was known to the most powerful and dangerous drug lord.  He killed so many people, he put bombs in building as well as she blew an airplane with hundreds of people in it.  I was very young and would hear the many things this man was doing.  One day while playing outside we heard a very loud noise that we couldn’t tell if it was fireworks or bomb exploding.  I remember my grandpa running out and telling us to come into the house.  A few minutes later my grandfather turned on the news and sure enough a car was left filled with explosives in front of a government building.  It seemed that every time I watched the news violence was always the topic on the news.  There were nights that I felt scared not knowing if one day a bomb would kill us. 

Although we lived in a country where so much violence existed while going to school our teachers would always make us feel safe.  Teachers always found away to help us cope with that anxiety we felt.  My grandparents and mom would also make sure that we tried and live a normal kids life where we would be able to go out and play and have fun and not think about all the violence happening around us.  When I was a little bit older I learned that I should not be scared of what was going around me because if I continued to worry I would not be able to live a happy life. 

I found a website that called “War Child” this is an organization that help children from many different countries to learn how to cope with adversity like when they are experiencing a war in their own country.  One of the countries this organization supports is Colombia.  It is known that over 2.5 million children in Colombia are affected by conflict.  FARC is a revolutionary armed group that would kidnaped children from their homes and train them to be guerillas.  During the year 1972 and 2014 over 11,000 children were kidnapped by the FARC’s. 

What this organization does for those kids in Colombia is to improve they psychosocial wellbeing and strengthen their capacity to cope with violence they experience.  Together with parents and caregivers, teachers and children taking part in the program, they work to boost protection mechanisms and prevent the recruitment and use of children by armed groups.

https://www.warchildholland.org/colombia