The tsunami disaster has orphaned or separated thousands of children. More than a hundred thousand children remain in refugee camps. Many aid organizations report that children living in tsunami-devastated areas are at risk from disease, starvation, and sexual and physical abuse.
In light of these developments, various Christian aid organizations have set up special programs to protect and help children to cope with tsunami-related trauma. They offer tsunami refugee children education programs which includes psychological counseling.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS, an international Catholic agency, has been present in Sri Lanka for several years. They are now sending teachers to refugee camps throughout South Asia and South East Asia. JRS director, Fr Vinny Joseph said that notebooks and other writing material will be distributed in the next few days.
World Vision, a Christian relief organization, has also dedicated themselves to helping the children. Organization workers have so far set up centers across the region. In the past few days, World Visino workers had set up 20 children centers offering psychological support to separated children and orphans.
The Christian organizations present have also offered programs for improving the physical environment of the refugee camps in disaster areas so that displaced children can feel more at home.
