Forty-one participants on Friday concluded a fifteen-day workshop on trauma healing as part of community empowerment.
The course organized by UNDP in collaboration with the state government, focused on training of trainers basic skills for local communities of Torit on how to address the shock, Radio Emmanuel reports.
Josephine Bakhita, a participant whose child was abducted two months ago, says since her child was kidnapped she was under intense trauma, but now feels relieve with the skills she gained.
She says she can now handle and address cases of trauma in her community.
‘What traumatize a lot is I was thinking I may not get any solution but at the end I have come to get the solution to the problem when I was coming from Juba we felt into an ambush, the people of Murle abducted a child from me, It has not taken two months so with this problem I was much traumatize when I was staying alone and by the time the program of this people started I join them now there is no any other trauma and now am stay free, I have given everything to God, the training of this people has supported me a lot. I have now known if there is a problem I know how to handle and how to be out of trouble’, she emphasized.
Luka Odong Silvio, Torit State Prison Officer talking after the closure, says the training has brought about positive change in his life history.
The course came in the right time and he promise to work hard to educate the local communities on trauma healing, he adds.
‘I want to say that now at this time this graduation has really has change and it has become a history in our lives especially me particularly because we have experience for the course of this fifteen days training it is trauma inform community empowerment so it was really every important work that we did in the course of these fifteen days and we have really enjoyed so this training has come at the right time and the training has been organize by UNDP’, Odong notes.
While Peruth Karungi UNDP Law Enforcement Advisor says unless South Sudanese are free of trauma, peace cannot be attained in the youngest nation.
She advises citizens to embrace peace in their hearts.
‘To see that the South Sudanese are free from trauma this concept was conceive in 2015 after the various conflict and realize that unless people are healed by themselves, beginning from themselves can they can there be peace it begins with you so after conceiving this concept we started rolling it out we first started with Juba with the host community then we went to POC Bor also the host community we went to Awil and now we are in Torit the last three weeks we started on the 8th and it has ended today’, she cautions.
Participants of the training include government officials, organized forces, civil society organizations, women and representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations.
The event concluded with issuing of certificates and cutting of cake at Dynamic Business Centre in Torit.