School in a Bag charity raises target for earthquake children

Art equipment can help children communicate and process their trauma without needing to verbalise it, the charity says

A charity sending bags with school supplies to children affected by earthquakes in Turkey and Syria said fundraising had been "brilliant".

School in a Bag, based in Somerset, set a target of £5,000 to supply 250 bags but within a few weeks raised the amount to £20,000 and 1,000 bags.

Chief Executive Luke Simon said it felt "really good" to reach the target.

They are working with charity Hand in Hand for Aid and Development (HIHFAD), which has hubs in Turkey and Syria.

Mr Simon said the bags were "really important in the post-rehabilitation of children following disasters".

"When children are displaced by either natural disasters or conflict, it's really important that we try and get children back into the routine of education," Mr Simon said.

"Education for most people in the world is conducted over a very formal timetable and of course, when you lose your home and school, that routine is fractured."

Thousands of people were killed in the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit both countries on 6 February

He said giving each child a school bag allowed them to carry on with their education, which in turn "generates a routine and gives them some form of normality".

Mr Simon's brother Piers died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the island of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand while they were on holiday with friends.

Mr Simon said he knew from "first-hand experience" the struggle children who had experienced and witnessed tragedy had in communicating how they felt and their anxieties.

"They can't do it verbally because they don't have the vocabulary, and they just don't feel comfortable talking about it in the same way some adults do."

However, he said if you gave a child the contents of a school bag they could write about it and draw things linked to it.

Mr Simon said people had been "very generous", from the suppliers who provided stock, to the volunteers who came in to help pack the bags and the companies who helped to fund the appeal.

A logistics company that does not wish to be publicly named, has also offered free shipping to Turkey in a 40ft lorry.

The bags are filled with exercise books, pens and pencils, eating utensils, a hygiene kit, toothbrush and toothpaste and in April will be taken to children displaced by the earthquakes.

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