I was tortured in my home country, is there any support I can turn to?
I was tortured in my home country and I continue to have nightmares about it and I can get really down when I am on my own. Is there a way of getting in contact with other people who have been through a similar experience? I think this would help me. I hope to hear from someone soon. Afryea
Helen Bamber Foundation
Anonymous — Tue, 03/16/2010 - 09:53Dear Afryea,
The Helen Bamber Foundation is a wonderful organisation who works hard to support people like you.
Here is some information from their website:
"Exploitation, violence and atrocity are words familiar to all of us. No one likes them, and it’s only natural to shut them out. We are a collective of human rights specialists who respond with compassion and creativity to the legacy of cruelty.
We work with survivors of genocide, torture, trafficking and rape who seek safety and refuge. We draw upon their inner resources, providing them with practical support and treatment to deal with their pasts and build new futures
Our clients are courageous but vulnerable people. The mental scars are expressed through nightmares, horrifying flashbacks and self-loathing. We help to mend what was broken in a safe and supportive environment, where restorative relationships enable survivors to feel whole again."
Visit their website at: http://www.helenbamber.org/
I hope they can offer you some support.
Best regards
Sarah
Hello. There is an
Anonymous — Thu, 03/11/2010 - 19:21Hello. There is an organisation which helps people in you situation, it is called "Medical Foundation - for the care of victims of torture". Their website is http://www.torturecare.org.uk/
They offer lots of different kinds of help and support from counselling, group therapy, physical therapy and psychotherapy.
There are interpreters for many many languages if you are not too comfortable in English. Here is a list of the languages they can interpret:
Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Bambara, Burmese, Croatian, Dari, Dioula, Farsi, French, Fullah, Fur, Hindi, Horami, Hungarian, Kashonke, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Kirmanji, Kirundi, Koniaka, Krio, Lingala, Luganda, Malinke, Mandingo, Mandinka, Mandarin, Mongolian, Odieneka, Oromo, Pashtoo, Portuguese, Punjabi, Runyankole, Russian, Sarahule, Serbo Croatian, Shona, Sinhalese, Somali, Sorani, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Tigre, Tigrinya, Tshiluba, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese and Wolof.
You can be referred to the Medical Foundation or refer yourself. Referrals are often made by Migrant Helpline (http://www.migranthelpline.org.uk/) and
Refugee Council (http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/).
Do contact one of these organisations because they can help you.