For SOS Children’s Villages, artist Laura Nsengiyumva developed the idea of a City Jewel as a national Belgian monument for the recognition of trauma survivors and the suffering of children and adults with repeated negative childhood experiences – complex trauma. Wetopia is a partner in the social design of this participatory monument. Many care-takers and partners from the neighbourhood collect the voices of those affected and help translate them, together with them, into beads that form the city jewel.

Every child should be able to grow up with love, respect and safety, surrounded by caring adults, but many children are not in that situation. In Belgium, 15% of children are said to have complex trauma. This affects adult life, both mentally and physically. Both suffering and recovery are very individual and therefore lonely. Because it is unknown to the general public, hidden and therefore not understood. This needs to change and trauma-sensitive care needs its place. The voice of the children and adults who suffer must literally move to the public space, hence a narrative and participatory approach.

Through this project, SOS Children’s Villages together with its ecosystem of partners, facilities, children and their families, aims to start a movement and give visibility to complex trauma. It wants to raise awareness in society and thus bring about change. This project is a step towards official and public recognition, by making it a memorial site in the middle of Brussels. This is only possible if those who live in, use or pass by this place are also involved in the project, so that the “near system” of the place where the memorial will be present becomes inherently part of the recognition.

This way we want to show public courage, listen to unheard cries of distress and invite all to also engage with it in their own environments and lives and thus also become a part of a movement.

With hundreds of participants from the whole of Belgium and from the neighbourhood, beads will be created in 2024 for this evolving monument at Square Marguerite Duras in the center of Brussels. MORE soon!