Eunice's Story: The Hidden Power of Storytelling... and Balloons
Stories and balloons… are more powerful than we realize.
Hi, my name is Eunice and I am a music therapist. Since 2022, I have helped to coordinate dramatherapy programs in Iraq in partnership with Whole Heart International and For the Love of a Child, UK.
In the dramatherapy programs that we run, the use of story is essential to achieving therapeutic goals. Children identify with characters and are inspired by them. Stories keep hope alive and allow children to explore alternative endings to real life situations. Most importantly, stories explore the big questions of “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?”
Story time is a central part of our dramatherapy program.
But how exactly does a story work?
Rather than tell you how, I thought I’d show you.
Step 1: Telling the Story
In this session, a balloon was used to represent the monster who intimidates the main character, No-name/Precious. Rather than give the monster a face, we let the children project their own “monsters” onto the balloon.
The first step is really simple. The children need to hear the story.
For the past year, we have been using a story written by dramatherapist Donna Jennings to guide the children through themes like friendship, working together, fear, courage, identity and self-worth. In the original story, the main character, No-Name, finds the Listening Stone and discovers that her real name is Precious.
This year, we expanded on the story with extra “episodes” like “No-Name and the Monster”:
After finding the Listening Stone and learning of her new name, Precious set off on a boat to a faraway island. But as she approached the island, she spied a monster waiting for her.
Now the monster did not like little children.
“Who is this child coming to my island?” the monster growled. “How dare you!”
As she looked at the monster, she saw it become bigger…and BIGGER … AND BIGGER!
And Precious cowered in fear and became smaller… and smaller… and smaller.
Children process information visually. So as I described the monster getting bigger and bigger, I made myself appear bigger and taller. When I described Precious cowering in fear, I crouched down in my seat. I could tell the children were tracking with me because they mirrored my movements spontaneously. Within a minute, they had placed themselves in the story. THEY were now the little girl, terrified of the monster.
Puppet of No-name with our staff puppeteer Rachelle. The puppet has helped the story come alive for the children.
As No-Name looked at the monster, she saw inside the monster all the things that she was afraid of. She saw fire, she saw floods, she saw stingrays pulling her down to the bottom of the ocean, she even saw her school exams!
At this point, I began to engage the children in fleshing out the story. There was no need to be too logical.
“What other scary things do you think No-Name saw in the monster?” I asked.
The children were quick to respond. “English exam. Math exam. Snakes. Lions. God."
It was important to validate these children’s feelings, especially when it took courage for them to voice their fears. I responded to every child with something like, “That is so scary! I am afraid of snakes too!”
One boy who was usually the center of attention, clowning around and jeering at others, whispered softly, “Djinns.” The usual smirk on his face was replaced with a look of terror.
“Yes, djinns! Very scary. And you know what else she saw? She saw people beating her. She saw people speaking bad words over her. She saw herself sitting in the darkness, all alone."
The room was quiet now. I could see I had hit something raw.
These were not fictional scenes from a story. They were real scenes from these children's lives. In this story, the monster was not just a symbol of fear. It was also a stand-in for all the voices of condemnation and intimidation these children had received their whole lives.
Listening intently to a story
But No-name remembered that the Listening Stone had told her, “Call on me and I will show you great and unsearchable things.” So she closed her eyes and called out, Listening Stone help me! When No-name opened her eyes she saw a sword lying on the ground. As she picked it up, it began to glow red. She took a stone and wrote on the sword the words 'I am precious.' Then running towards the monster with the sword in her hand, she yelled at the top of her lungs - I AM PRECIOUS!!!!!!!
Then the monster became smaller and smaller and smaller until it became a little piece of rubber on the ground. Precious picked it up and said - This? I was afraid of this?
As I burst the balloon with a mechanical pencil, I would see relief wash over the children’s faces. The story had become so real for them that they were truly amazed at how the balloon popped - just like that! Couched within this story re-enactment was the seed of a question:
“CAN I OVERCOME THE MONSTER TOO?”
Step 2: Embodying the Story
Our team blew up 90 balloons so 90 kids could each pop their own balloon!
Just hearing the story was no doubt impactful. But since this was a dramatherapy program, the story was just the first step. The next part was acting out the story.
One by one we got the kids to run an obstacle course, complete with star jumps, crawling under a table, and leaping over a box. But at the end, they got to pop their very own balloon. Every time a child popped the balloon, our team cheered and hooted and every child got to high-five their friends. Every child got to feel like they had accomplished something difficult with the whole room celebrating their success.
More importantly, they got to experience what it felt like to face their fears.
Step 3: Personalizing the Story
To end the session, we asked the kids to close their eyes and imagine what the monster was saying to them, personally.
Here's where "the monster" became individualized for each child. Some shared words of intimidation, others shared words that devalued or hurt them. One thing, however, was clear - all the words they shared had been spoken over them in real life:
You are not strong
You are not beautiful
No one loves you
Your brother is better than you
You have no name
You are stupid
You are dirty
You have no parents
Nobody has compassion on you
You can't
You are son of garbage
You have a filthy tongue
You are alone
You are small
You are alone
You are a liar
It was very heartbreaking to sit and hear these children share these words. Under all the nervous giggles was a lot of deep pain. However, we then asked the children:
“WHAT IS THE LISTENING STONE SAYING TO YOU?”
Just like in the story, the monster did not have the final word. The children, with their eyes still closed, began sharing beautiful words of affirmation for themselves.
You are beautiful
You are strong
You are clean
You are beloved
You have a family
You are smart
Don't be afraid of their words
You will remain strong
You are a hero, son of a hero
You are a man
You can beat the monster
You are a lion
You are a gazelle
You are a tiger
The monster is little
You are stronger than the monster
You can grab the monster and throw it and he cannot beat you
Just to be clear, none of these answers (negative or positive) were prompted by us, the team! They were all spontaneously shared by the children!
As more and more children shared what they were hearing from the Listening Stone, their voices grew louder and more confident. Towards the end, they were practically shouting in victory.
Since that day, I have never underestimated the power of a story. In the Bible, Jesus used parables to teach about the Kingdom of God. Here, in modern-day Iraq, I saw children who have spent their whole lives believing they are unworthy and unlovable begin to believe the opposite through the power of a simple story.
They may have entered that tent believing that they were weak, dirty, ugly, unlovable, and utterly alone in this world. But they left that day knowing that they are strong, beautiful, pure, loved… and never alone.