• Many of us have experienced a fear that somebody we loved would die because they "had given up" rather than because they were terribly ill physically. However, we rarely stop to think of the effort it is for people who have been terribly traumatized by war, brutality or violence (both physical and mental) to continue to want to live life positively and productively when the wars are over. Victor Frankl spoke extensively of this type of mental survival in his book Man's Search for Meaning. In it, he explained how so many of his fellow prisoners in Auschwitz who had not been condemned to death by the camp's brutality, died because they "let themselves die". Their reason: death could not be any worse than what they were enduring.
  

In Auschwitz . many people who had been spared the ultimate penalty of genocide let themselves die anyway because of hopelessness; and in violent parts of the world today, the major depression experienced by prisoners in Auschwitz and other prison situations/concentration camps continues to contribute to early and psychologically/emotionally tragic deaths. Moreover, the trauma endured by victims of genocide, war, and extreme violence can also lead to rape and brutality by the victims, - even towards family members. It also causes flashbacks, nightmares and severe mental illnesses(including paranoid psychosis/hallucinations), all of which wreak havoc on family dynamics. (In the west, we sometimes refer to the latter as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and World War II vets referred to it as “shell shock.)”

• One of the tragedies of AIDS in Africa and elsewhere, is that it has been contracted far too often by women and children who have been gang raped during violent attacks. However, those who have been afflicted are often perceived as having been cursed by a hex and are treated as outcasts in their desperate moment of need and victimization

The IFPSW identifies organizations that provide relief in the circumstances mentioned above, and/or provide support and/or rehabilitation services to child soldiers who have been drugged, brainwashed and forced to perform brutal acts of violence. (Ishmael Bael’s book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier written with the support of the United Nations, (UN) gives an excellent depiction of one of these situations.)
Our assistance then helps such organizations get off the ground and/or stay afloat with financial, consulting and training assistance.