Contributing
to a better world

Photo: NH Nieuws

Maurits Cohen says: “Around 1995 I sat in front of the TV and watched the images of the war in the Balkans in shock. The tremendous misery. The stream of refugees. What was happening there was too terrible for words. And if you’ve ever experienced a war, you also know what war can do to people. As a Jewish child, I myself had survived the war in hiding. And I know that many war victims still suffer from the loss of that time. People who have lost a lot in a war and regained a lot after it often fear losing it again. A war past can also be translated into love for the children one has had, a love that is fraught with fear. This in turn can have an effect on the lives of those children.”

Maurits Cohen continues: “I thought: material help will come. But above all, psychological help is also needed for all those people who have lost loved ones and who have been driven from home and hearth. In the Netherlands we have a lot of knowledge about psychotrauma. And we have people who can develop and deliver training together with the locals, tailored to the specific culture in a country. For example, I founded the War Trauma Foundation to train people who are locally embedded in a war zone – teachers, nurses and social workers. Trauma trainers can learn to recognise psychotrauma. They can provide initial support and refer people if there is insufficient improvement.

The aim was to make people embedded in local society intermediaries between our psychosocial aid methods and the local people themselves. The idea that we – who know neither the language nor the culture – would be suitable to provide mental support to people in war zones ourselves is outdated. The training could also vary enormously by country. In Congo or Burundi, a different approach was needed to that in Kosovo or the Palestinian territories. Because we worked in Europe, but also in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.”

Relinde Reiffers adds: “Conflict affects the social structure of a society. Often people no longer trust each other, causing all kinds of problems. In Burundi, narrative theatre proved helpful. Portraying problems and possible solutions in theatre form created room for dialogue and rebuilding trust in society.”

Narrative theatre in Burundi. Photo: Yvonne Sliep

Maurits Cohen: “We started working on the West Bank around 2006 near Bethlehem. We trained the staff of dozens of schools in recognising psychotrauma, providing basic help and referral. Even adults have never known peace there. Children grow up with violence from both sides. In the project we also had to spend time on financial control, due to corruption there. That was sometimes necessary. At the same time, figures are often formalistic in the Netherlands. By arriving on site, we gained a little more understanding of the circumstances.

At the moment, the situation is bad in Israel and the West Bank. It worries me. Fortunately, there is now also protest from within Israel and it is still peaceful. With a more extreme policy, dissenting voices are apparently spurred into action sooner. That is the good news.”

Tineke Pronk: “A major activity of the War Trauma Foundation was publishing the Intervention journal. In it, we explicitly offered a platform to people who may not have had a Western academic education behind them, but who could report valuable experiences about their work in war zones. We reached more than 200 centres worldwide with Intervention. The effect was that through the journal we could train our readers in psychosocial support for psychotrauma, often without sending people from here to war zones.”

Relinde Reiffers: “I started as an intern at WTF and now I continue the work with the others at ARQ International. Maurits Cohen and Tineke Pronk have been incredibly inspiring. If Maurits believed in something, he went for it 100 per cent. Tineke was indispensable for fundraising and financial accountability.

Maurits Cohen had foresight. Intervention is 20 years old this year. It is still a very good journal in which writers who don’t come from the global north also find a platform. Precisely them! Today, Intervention Journal primarily appears digitally and is open access. This means that anyone, anywhere in the world, can access it for free.

He also saw it well with regard to psychosocial help in conflict areas. With the War Trauma Foundation, we had to knock on doors to get support for our work. Today, almost all NGOs attach great importance to providing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to people affected by war and disasters.”

Relinde Reiffers: “Much of what Maurits Cohen started, we still do with ARQ International. What has changed is that nowadays people talk about psychotrauma in a more nuanced way. It used to be said that all those affected by the war were traumatised. Nowadays we know that people can go through very disturbing events, but fortunately not everyone gets traumatised.”

Maurits Cohen: “I completely agree with you! At the time, I was working in Israel on a study among Jews who had experienced World War II in the Netherlands. Of the 240 people interviewed, we found that 20 per cent were traumatised.”

Tineke Pronk: “Trauma can also lead to better noticing of what’s wrong and feeling a strong inner motivation to do something about it. You see it more often: people who came out of the Second World War and who have a certain drive.”

Relinde Reiffers: “It is precisely this resilience that makes me so happy in this work. You see that some people can go through the most terrible things and then want to contribute to a better world.”