Dr Lynne Jones has been a psychiatrist working in conflict zones for over 20 years. From treating soldiers in the Bosnian war, to attending to families affected by the Haitian earthquake, or those who lost relatives in the Sri Lankan tsunami, Dr Jones is coming to the Frontline Club to discuss and share her experiences of working in some of the world’s biggest disaster zones. She will be discussing issues such as if there is a right approach to deal with mental health in humanitarian disasters, and is there a different way we approach mental health in crises in third world countries compared to developed ones? Dr Jones’ field diaries have been published in the London Review of Books and her audio diaries broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Joining this discussion is Dr Conor Kenny from Doctors Without Borders. Dr Kenny has been providing healthcare for some of the most vulnerable people in Europe. His first assignment began in Idomeni, a transit camp for refugees on the Greek border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. After residents of the Idomeni camp were evicted, Conor moved to Lesbos to work providing healthcare in specialised camps designated for the most vulnerable refugees on the island. The refugees here face a number of medical and psychosocial problems as a result of their extensive journeys that Dr Kenny has been treating.
Moderator – Rob Williams CEO War Child
Rob Williams is Chief Executive of War Child, the UK charity dedicated to supporting children affected by conflict. War Child delivers psychosocial support, child protection, education and livelihoods programmes in a range of countries affected by war including Central African Republic, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, and The Democratic Republic of Congo, helping children who have been abused, abducted, displaced or separated from their families. Previously in relief and development Rob has worked for Save the Children, the British Red Cross and Concern Worldwide in Africa and Asia leading country programmes and also managing emergency response. In the UK he has been, at various times, Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, Chief Executive of Bliss – the premature baby charity, and Chief Executive of the Fatherhood Institute He is married with two children and lives in Cambridge.
Click on the link to see Dr Lynne Jones’ new book, Outside the Asylum: A Memoir of War, Disaster and Humanitarian Psychiatry
]]>Compassion and self-affirmation are discovered by a man as he manages a mental asylum run by its own patients in Juárez, Mexico – the world’s most violent city. Juárez, a city that borders the United States, is at once a place of diverse culture and tradition and a site of desperation and rampant poverty.
Ill and weathered by decades of drug use, police cast Josué out of the deadly streets of Juárez into the desert, where they left him in a mental asylum governed by its own patients. Six years later, Josué manages the asylum. Now it is his job to give medicine to the sick; to help them walk; to assist them in recovering from the same trauma he experienced while living on the streets.
Attempting to reconcile his broken history, Josué dreams of his estranged daughter in California – who he last saw 22 years ago. He asks Aitken to look for his daughter, who posts pictures on the internet in the hope that she will reach out. Josué and his daughter make contact and agree to meet. The itinerant father knows he cannot explain his absence, but perhaps forgiveness can lead to a new beginning.
Ed Vulliamy is a writer for The Guardian and The Observer. In 2013, he won the award for literary reporting named after the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński for his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline, a vivid dissection of the violent US-Mexico ‘war on drugs’.
Directed by Mark Aitken
Duration: 72′
Year: 2015
Directed by Tonje Hessen Schei and produced by Flimmer Film, Drone takes an in depth look at the United States’ use of drone technology, questioning how drones are altering the psychology of war. Drone explores new war technology from both the perspective of civilians living under drones in Pakistan and drone pilots training on programmes that resemble video games.
The film covers diverse and integral ground, from the recruitment of young pilots at gaming conventions and the re-definition of “going to war”, to the moral stance of engineers behind the technology, and the world leaders giving the “green light” to engage in targeted killing. Tonje Hessen Schei presents a thorough and well researched examination of how drones are remoulding the technological, political, and psychological landscape of war for both countries using the new technology and citizens of countries under drone strikes.
In the midst of the rapid advancement of technology, with which international legislation is struggling to keep up, Schei‘s film displays how drones are rapidly defining a new perception of war.
Directed by Tonje Hessen Schei
Duration: 78′
Year: 2014
Filmed during the 2014 siege of Gaza, which left 507 children dead and 3,598 wounded, Born in Gaza follows a group of young children growing up in a war zone. The film examines the widespread psychological trauma experienced by adolescents coping with injury, fear, and the loss of loved ones. It is estimated that 400,000 children in Gaza are in desperate need of psychological support.
‘We were eight kids on the beach. We came to play football’ recalls Hamada, 13. Then the shelling started. Four boys, all aged between nine and eleven, were killed. Motasem, 11, and Hamada were wounded. ‘I may need to go abroad for surgery’ states Motasem. ‘I have shrapnel in my back, hands and legs’.
Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, six year old Bisan finds it increasingly difficult to communicate. ‘She does not talk to us about what happened’ says one of her friends. ‘If anyone asks, she gets mad’.
Through observational footage and interviews Hernan Zin provides, with sensitivity, individual stories that go far beyond news coverage of the events and offer children the opportunity to be heard. In doing so, he also provides space for dialogue and healing. ‘The situation is really complicated. We have a war every two years’, states 13 year old Mohamed. ‘I often think about our situation and I never see the end’.
Directed by Hernan Zin
Produced by La Claqueta & Contramedia Films
Duration: 74′
Year: 2014