Healing garden in Chamchamal (Iraq)

The people of Iraq and Syria have lived with armed conflict, political persecution and torture for decades with hundreds of thousands of victims. Hundreds of thousands more have also survived severe human rights violations. These people and their communities now have to deal with the consequences of this large-scale trauma.

The Jiyan Foundation, headquartered in the city of Erbil (in the Kurdistan region of Iraq), provides medical, legal and psychological support to children and adults who have survived war, the loss of loved ones, displacement and sexual violence. In Chamchamal, Jiyan runs a psychotherapeutic treatment clinic for women and their children as well as a unique healing garden. Here, traumatised children who have dissociated from the outside world can rebuild trust and learn social interaction, with the help of the animals.