|
FORT CARSON, Colo. (11/4/2011) — An award-winning children's
author and illustrator visited the Fallen Heroes Family
Center Oct. 26, to discuss the loss of a loved one.
Trevor Romain, an award-winning children's author and illustrator, discusses the loss of a loved one Oct. 23,
2011 inside the Fallen Heroes Family Center at Fort Carson, Colo. Each child received a “memory box,” courtesy of the USO. The kits contained a book and video titled “What on Earth Do You Do When Somebody Dies?”
Photo by Dustin Senger |
|
When Trevor Romain knelt down to share photographs of him petting
giraffes and rhinoceroses in Africa, Michael Petersen, 3,
reluctantly giggled and then turned toward his mother's hip. But the
slender, upbeat motivational speaker's mannerisms and South African
accent quickly seized the boy's attention.
“At first Michael
was shy, but then he warmed up — and then he was taking his hand and
saying ‘let's go play, let's go play,'” said Svetlana Petersen,
Michael's mother. His father, Sgt. 1st Class Justin Petersen, died
of injuries from a motorcycle accident in May 2009.
“(Romain)
knows how to communicate with kids,” said Petersen, while attending
Romain's first visit to the Fallen Heroes Family Center at Fort
Carson. “He breaks the ice and lets the kids be kids.”
Survivor Outreach Services coordinators inside the facility support
families in |
|
Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and Utah. |
Romain's interest in helping youths through hardships was
seeded in South Africa, while serving two years in his
native country's army. He found himself inspired by
consoling children injured during a bloody civil war in
Angola. He began volunteering at orphanages in Zimbabwe,
Uganda, Burundi, Congo, Kenya and Malawi.
After
living in England and Australia, he moved to Austin, Texas.
He has created more than 50 self-help children's books,
hosted several animated videos and spoken at various
conferences, schools, camps and hospitals. In early 2010, he
became president of the American Childhood Cancer
Organization.
“I've basically distilled all those
experiences and put them into words kids can understand and
help them regulate ... and to know when to ask an adult for
help,” said Romain.
After his first “With You All the
Way” world tour to U.S. military installations last year,
his team sent out nearly 30,000 tour kits, paid for by the
USO, according to Woody Englander, co-founder of The Trevor
Romain Company. The boxes enclosed interactive journals and
six videos for military children in sixth grade and below.
Romain is back on the road for military Families,
providing comedy based educational conversations to help
youths build compassion and confront challenges, such as
homework and bullies. He also discusses methods for greater
resiliency during deployments and caring for combat injuries
and illnesses.
“How do you let your feelings out when
they get stuck?” said Romain, standing in front of children
and parents
in the Fallen Heroes Family Center.
“One of the things I do is find something that makes me
laugh and feel good inside,” he said, before telling a
series of “duh jokes,” which identified humor in labels and
signs around the world.
“This is my journal,” said
Romain, while flipping through pages. “I just draw lots of
little pictures. I just draw and I draw all the time ... and
that really helps me.” Romain told the children his father
recently died.
“One of the things I do when I'm sad
or I'm frustrated or I'm really angry at the world, because
my daddy isn't with me anymore and it hurts me, one of the
things I do is I write inside my journal.”
“Is there
a journal in there?” said a child, pointing to a stack of
white cardboard containers decorated with cartoons, labeled
“memory box.” Each one had Romain's book and video titled
“What on Earth Do You Do When Somebody Dies?” On the bottom
laid a plush toy and journal.
“How many of you guys
have been in a situation where your pain gets stuck?” said
Romain. “Have you felt that? It doesn't want to come out ...
When you write in a journal, or when you draw in a journal,
it helps to move those feelings out of your body.
“The interesting thing is that if we don't talk about our
pain or somebody who's passed away, what happens is that
feeling just flies around us ... it sort of like haunts us.
“When you write stuff down it really helps,” he
said.
“I really wanted to put this together to give
people an opportunity to meet Trevor,” said Doug Lehman,
Fort Carson Family Advocacy Program treatment provider, who
coordinated Romain's visit in Colorado. He said the memory
boxes are “a great resource for the kids.” He offered to
order more from the USO for other children.
Romain
said he has visited military children in Alaska, Virginia
and Colorado so far this year. He is scheduled for Texas
next month.
By Dustin Senger
Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2011
Comment on this article
|
