Children colour their walking nightmare

The image shown here was drawn by a five-year-old girl who, along with her nine-year-old sister and mother, was caught up in …

The image shown here was drawn by a five-year-old girl who, along with her nine-year-old sister and mother, was caught up in the first week of violent protest against their walk to school.

Both children were close to the explosion caused by the pipe bomb thrown at the Holy Cross families by a teenage member of the UDA (the Ulster Defence Association).

The explosion caused bad leg injuries to an RUC officer from Co Fermanagh. He has made a good recovery. But the children and their mothers have had a more difficult time coming to terms with the violent protests against them. There are fears of long-term psychological damage.

The fright of the initial violent days surrounding their return to school can be seen in this painting by the five-year-old. It is typical of those produced by the children, according to teachers and parents at the school.

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The image has at its centre two straight lines that represent the Ardoyne Road as it takes the children up towards the school. At the top of the two parallel lines is a crayon grid with faces of children. These are the children who are in the safety of the school. The grid is a good representation of the school which was built in the 1960s in "international" modern style with straight horizontal and vertical lines on the faτade looking out onto Ardoyne Road.

The children's faces in the school are mainly happy although one is shown to have a "sad" face.

To the left of the "road" the child has displayed, in the bottom corner, figures in black and a protester holding a Union flag. The protester's mouth is painted red.

Directly in front of the protester is an indeterminate image in black Biro. This is apparently the explosion caused by the UDA pipe bomb.

A similar image appears in another painting by the child's older sister and the word "boom" is written in her explosion image.

The black figures on the bottom left of the painting are of the RUC riot squad members who have consistently kept their fire-protective face masks pulled down as the families pass to and from school. An RUC member has pointed out that although he and his colleagues are aware this is not a pleasant sight or experience for the families, officers have received death threats from the loyalists and, as most of them live in Protestant areas, they all want to keep their identities hidden from the UDA.

The odd orange-coloured vehicle with what appears to be a light flashing on its roof is one of the armoured vehicles that line the route to school.

The incongruous line of daffodils beside the protesters and police on the left-hand of the painting is another accurate image from the child as several of the houses on the Protestant stretch of the Ardoyne Road still have neat front gardens where flowers bloomed in early September.

Similarly, across the top of the painting, on either side of the school, there are trees painted in yellow and red, accurately describing the colour change in the leaves that took place in early autumn.

On the lower right-hand side of the painting are more disturbing images. The child depicts herself here, in the red top of the school. She is crying. Her sister, in a black dress, is also crying.

Both the child and her sister have depicted a teddy bear in the bottom right-hand corner. The teddy apparently belongs to the older child. In a painting by the older sister, the teddy bear is holding its paws up to its mouth and looks frightened. In the image painted by the younger child, however, the teddy remains happy and appears to be comforting the crying sister.

There are two more police officers in black riot gear on the left and in the bottom centre-left is what may be another depiction of an explosion. The explosion did happen on the left-hand side of the children's route, so this is accurate.

Parents and staff in the local health centre say these images are very common among the children's paintings. The mother of the two girls said she could not bear to look at the pictures on her fridge door.

The local GP, Dr Michael Tan, has appealed to the health authorities to provide professional help but, by the end of last week, neither the local health trust or the Department of Health had intervened to provide a child psychologist on a full-time basis in Ardoyne to help the children and their parents.

Dr Tan says the effects of the trauma inflicted on the children is worsening and he is very worried that long-term psychological damage will be caused.

Meanwhile, some of the protesters seemed to be revelling in the psychological damage being caused to the children and parents.

Last week, after media comment on the likelihood of such effects, one of the loyalist women shouted at the parents and children: "We've your nerves wrecked!"