In the camp for the smaller children of our addicted clients (children aged 8-12) there was a very problematic little boy – let’s call him here Peti. He grew up in a family with grave alcohol addiction problems and he is living effectively on the street.

His integration in the program of the camp was problematic: he could not be attentive for a longer period. He often aggressive acting out’s. (One time he was also autoaggressive.) As helpers we had to be all the time with our attention on him.

One day he started to play with puppies, and asked one of our colleges to play with him. He played some stories invented by him. That day his group was in charge of organizing the program, and they decided to play a story. Peter said that he has a story they can play with the puppies. He told his story and his group accepted it to be performed. The story goes like this: a little bird (Peti) lost his mother, and searched for her in the forest. He met lots of other animals, which came with him so they continued to search together. Finally they found her. It was fantastic. Peter played with a deep involvement. I cried. This was the way he found to express his problem of abandonment.

Tünde Geréb, psychologist

Children's camp, Bucin camp site, August 2008