Intisar foundation’s Drama Therapy Heals Arab Women Effected By Wars

Intisar  found ation’s Drama Therapy Heals Arab Women Effected By Wars

Women comprise 50 percent of the over 25 million refugees, internally displaced, or stateless population worldwide. Of the nearly 80 million displaced people worldwide, over 50 percent are  from  the Arab region. With the Arab world plundered in escalated militarism and wars, over one million Syrian refugees live in Lebanon–nearly 70 percent live below the poverty line, one in four suffers  from  anxiety, one in three  from  depression and two-thirds of Syrian refugees in Lebanon have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“There’s an aversion in the Arab world about seeking psychological help,” explains HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah of Kuwait, founder of the UK-registered charity, Intisar foundation which in 2018 became the world’s first and only nonprofit, charitable organization that offers Drama Therapy for Arab women traumatized by wars. “Arab women affected by wars are uncomfortable about discussing their problems with male psychologists–alone in a room. and there’s a cultural habit of burying your trauma so it’s not surfaced.”

The foundation’s advisory board are top experts in the field including Dr. Nisha Sanjnani, Associate Professor and Director, Drama Therapy Program at NYU and Richard Hougham, Principal Lecturer, Drama and Movement Therapy at UK’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and the foundation’s CEO, Karima Anbar attest to its continued success.

To date, the foundation has completed 10 Drama Therapy programs with 200 women participants who spent nearly 400 hours learning and practicing transformational exercises. The women have performed six Acting Out Our Mission of Peace plays for audiences across Lebanon and Jordan–the countries where the foundation is currently active.

Sheikha AlSabah’s humble, charismatic and spirited personality is refreshing and a testament to her commitment to Intisar (victory in Arabic) foundation’s mission having herself traumatized by war during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Within hours of the invasion, the over four million populated, oil-rich country’s capital city fell and its head of state, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, fled to Saudi Arabia.

The invasion ended Sheikha AlSabah’s peaceful life surrounded by nature, palm oasis, and wildlife. As a young mother of four daughters, she focused on protecting her children from the bombings and violent scenes, while suppressing her own trauma after witnessing corpses of soldiers, and her country’s destruction.

“I had no emotions throughout the violent invasion,” Sheikha AlSabah remembers shielding her daughters from bombings as they escaped through the desert into Saudi Arabia and from there to London, where they remained until Kuwait’s liberation. “Reflecting, I know I suppressed emotions. I was traumatized and angry–fearful and scared of angry emotions.”

The idea for the Intisar foundation came about when Sheikha AlSabah and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) organized an art exhibit in Kuwait on women affected by wars. Well aware of the powers of positive psychology, AlSabah found there were no mental health programs for women victims of war. She joined ICRC and UNHCR for a trip to Lebanon to work with women living in refugee camps.

Of the various therapy sessions, Drama Therapy–a therapeutic approach using theatrical techniques to facilitate psychological healing– proved the most altering mental and emotional outlet, reversing the adverse effects of war among women. The multi-generational group of participating women opened up, discussed fears, laughed, made friends with a community of supportive women–showing affirmation, self-confidence, and self-worth.