The Global Story:How does war affect a child’s brain?
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What is the impact of war on children's mental health?
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Hey there, I'm Asma Khalid.
And I'm Tristan Redman, and we're here with a bonus episode for you from the Global Story podcast.
The world order is shifting. Old alliances are fraying and new ones are emerging. Some of this turbulence can be traced to decisions made in the United States. But the US isn't just a cause of the upheaval. Its politics are also a symptom of it.
Every day we focus on one story, looking at how America and the world shape each other.
So we hope you enjoy this episode. And to find more of our show, just search for The Global Story, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
Before we start, this episode contains upsetting details of children's experiences in war. So please take care while listening.
More than 1,100 children have been killed or injured in the Middle East in the two weeks since the war in Iran started. That's according to UNICEF.
Children are often the victims of war, but they're also often the ones that we hear of least.
For the last four decades, Fergal Keane has been one of the most familiar voices on the BBC reporting from war zones around the world.
And over the years, he's been profoundly affected by the stories he's heard from children in particular.
Now this spring, he's saying goodbye to the BBC. So we sat down with him to talk through the issue that has stayed with him throughout his career. From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid.
And I'm Tristan Redman. And today on The Global Story, Fergal Keane on PTSD and how living through war affects children's brains.
Fergal, thank you so much for joining us. Could you introduce yourself for us, please?
Yeah, I'm Fergal Keane. I've been around a long time. Feels like forever.
I love that as an introduction.
Doing what in all that time, Fergal? I've been a foreign correspondent, war correspondent with the BBC for 37 years. Before that, I was a reporter in Belfast in Ireland for Irish TV and radio. And before that, I was a newspaper reporter. Always a reporter.
And what are the stories that you've covered that have really marked you in your career?
I think I was chatting to a friend of mine the other night who'd been there with me. And, you know, I think the transition to democracy in South Africa, when I watched over a period of four years, this country move from the brutality of racial separation, the humiliation inflicted on so many people, especially children, Moving from that to a point where I was standing outside the union buildings in Pretoria in May 1994 and watching Nelson Mandela. I mean, I was just 30 or 40 feet away from him, watching him with his hand on his breast being sworn in as the president of a non-racial democratic South Africa. That's the kind of thing you go through and you think I'll never experience that again. And it's true.
You don't. It's a once in a lifetime experience. Very quickly after that, there was the other major story that marked my career and I think marked my personality and marked my psyche. And that was the genocide in Rwanda where you had as many as 800,000 people killed in the space of 100 days.
Underlying inter-tribal tensions have again exploded into violence, apparently with thousands dead, as rebel forces from the minority Tutsi tribe appear to be fighting the army dominated by the majority Hutus. The Hutu forces pressured Hutu civilians to use machetes, clubs, blunt objects and other weapons to rape, maim and kill their Tutsi neighbours and destroy or steal their property.
And many of them killed by people who were their neighbours.
How has Fergal Keane's career influenced his understanding of trauma?
You know, killed with clubs, with machetes. And these neighbours egged on by the government who basically taught people to entirely subvert the moral order.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the impact of war on children's mental health?
0:00–4:45
2
How has Fergal Keane's career influenced his understanding of trauma?
4:45–12:28
3
What stories from Fergal's reporting have profoundly affected him?
12:28–17:39
4
How do children cope with trauma during conflicts?
17:39–22:34
5
What lessons can be learned from the resilience of child survivors?
22:34–28:58
6
How can we improve support for children affected by war?
28:58–30:06
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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