Wellbeing of Nepali children after the earthquakes in 2015 : Narratives of children parents and teachers

The Early Childhood Education Centre Kathmandu, Nepal, asked us to do qualitative research into the wellbeing  of  Nepali  children  after  the  earthquakes  in  2015  and  what  the  factors  were  that  helped  the  wellbeing  to  increase.  
We  are  interested  in  working  with  children  and  have  the  desire  to  mean  something  to  them.  We  were  enthusiastic  about  the  work  of  the  Early  Childhood  Education  Centre  when  we  heard  about  it.  The  Early  Childhood Education Centre is working in Nepal to improve the quality of early childhood education by training  teachers to focus on the socio-emotional development of the children instead of cramming knowledge. After  the earthquakes in 2015, the Early Childhood Education Centre tried to teach the teachers and parents how  they  could  help  their  children  in  overcoming  this  event.  In  consultation  with  our  tutors,  we  came  to  the  following main question;   ‘’How did the Nepali children   from pre-primary schools in the Kathmandu Valley,   experience their wellbeing after the earthquakes in 2015   and what are helping factors that influences   the wellbeing of children after an earthquake?’’  You  can  imagine  that  devastating  events  like  earthquakes  have  a  big  influence  on  children.  After  traumatic  events, often psychological interventions are used to process the events. But you can also start with the more  basic interventions. The goal of this research is to describe which factors helped the children to increase their wellbeing after the two earthquakes of April and May 2015. We got results through literature research and  interviews  with  respondents;  children,  parents  and  teachers.  Through  their  narratives  we  heard  how  the  children perceived their wellbeing and what the role of their parents and teachers was therein. By connecting  this to literature, we have an overview of factors that can be helpful in processing a traumatic event. Besides  this,  we  evaluated  the  goals  of  the  Community  Healing  Course,  a  post-earthquake  training  for  parents  and  teachers, developed by the ECEC and given after the earthquake.   The results of this research show us that children often benefit from basic needs and the recovery of normal  daily life. It also makes clear how difficult it is to implement more complex interventions in Nepal, because the  concept ‘trauma’ is hardly known and adults are struggling with understanding the perception of their children.   This  research  has  brought  a  list  of  narratives  of  the  respondents,  a  list  of  recommendations  regarding  the  Community  Healing  Course  and  a  flyer  which  can  be  used  in  post-trauma  trainings.  The  ECEC  can  use  this  information to adjust the CHC. In this way the ECEC will be able to respond even better to the needs of children after a traumaic event.