The war goes on, so does nightmares: Story of Norhan

Norhan Hamoud: A 25 years old female. She lives with her father, mother, and her 5 sisters, Five years ago in Damascus – Syria, everything was normal for her. Then the war arrived where she used to live her entire life and she witnessed everything being torn apart in that war zone; death, killing, displacement, family separations, and all the other horrors.

Her father had to sell their house in Damascus. With all the pain and sorrows they had to leave behind everything and headed to Turkey. Norhan’s family now lives in Turkey and they already got Turkish citizenship. Although she left the war, unfortunately, nightmares did not leave Norhan. The war in her nightmares still goes on with all its inhumanities and pains. This state created a dramatic psychosocial disorder in her emotional situation. An NGO approached and invited her to their counseling sessions. She used to stay very quiet at the beginning during sessions, but then with some encouragement from other participants, she started to speak about her experience. The NGO Staff included her in their consultation sessions and handcraft events. She also enjoyed the women’s picnic with her peers.

Now, Norhan is feeling much better and she is smoking less -which she plans to quit finally in the near future-. She also found work that allows her to do from her home. She feels like she is more stable and she became more socialized by being able to communicate with others.