By Osmary Hernández, Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, CNN
La Guaira, Venezuela (CNN) — Ten-year-old Maria keeps reliving the moment she lost her mother and her life changed forever.
After powerful twin earthquakes devastated parts of Venezuela and destroyed their home in the coastal town of Caraballeda last month, Maria and her brother Damian, 13, were taken in by their aunt, Mercedes Osul.
“My mom was there,” Maria keeps telling her new caretaker.
Damian has been less vocal – processing everything that happened to his family in a different way.
“My nephew hasn’t wanted to talk about it. All he does is play, play,” Osul says. Damian spends much of his day in an improvised soccer field with other children who, like him, have lost their homes and are living in one of the many temporary shelters that have been put up to house those displaced by the crisis.
While adults like Osul are looking for ways to rebuild their own lives, children are learning to live with fear, grief, uncertainty – and how to make sense of the tragedy.
Play as a tool for healing
While Damián prefers to spend his afternoons playing soccer, Maria seeks comfort in candy, their aunt says. Innocent, childlike ways to cope with a tragedy even most adults struggle to reckon with.
Experts say there’s no single way to cope with a traumatic experience. It’s why several shelters have so-called Child Friendly Spaces, where psychologists and social workers support children and teenagers through recreational and group activities, guided play and counseling.
The goal isn’t for them to talk immediately about what happened, but to offer them a safe environment to begin processing it, Manuel Rodríguez Pumarol, UNICEF representative in Venezuela, tells CNN.
“Through play and group dynamics, children can begin to express themselves, begin to release the stress and trauma caused by this catastrophe, and also begin to regain that sense of security they have lost,” he says.
World Vision is one of the charities setting up these spaces. The group has eight to 10 movable spaces across Caracas and La Guaira – the two most affected areas – where children can play board games, card games, do arts and crafts, and play sports, according to the group’s Emergency Response Manager in Venezuela, Andrea Lasso.
“They need some space where they can feel safe again, where they can be protected, where they can play and interact with other children,” Lasso tells CNN. “I think that’s critical for their recovery and for them to rebuild their lives.”
That support extends to the adults in charge of them – to help them process their own grief, but also to be a pillar of strength for the children.
Osul herself is grieving her sister – Maria and Damian’s mother. She’s adapting to a life where she’s caring for her niece and nephew, along with her own two daughters.
The shelter’s psychologist advised Osul not to force Damian to talk about his mother’s death if he didn’t want to, and to let soccer be his outlet.
“They told me to let him vent, that this is a way to vent,” she recalls.
Rebuilding a decimated childhood
The disaster has upended the daily lives of thousands of children. Some left their homes, others lost family members, friends, scho