killers , but it wasn ’ t easy to notice that all those moments and what I had seen changed and affected my life .
At the end of 1994 the genocide was over of cially , but many of us contin- ued to live in memories of that unpleasant time for years to come . Everything I had seen was manifesting into nightmares as if it was happening again and again , and for me it seemed normal even though it was scary .
Before being treated and learning how to help others using the Trauma Tapping Technique , every night was as if the genocide was still happening . You can imagine how my days were affected , they were unhappy days most of them .
Healing is possible but only when you allow yourself to be treated . I didn ’ t know I was traumatised . I thought having all those problems was who I had become after living through the genocide . I was insecure , had nightmares and got angry without reason . I thought : ‘ That is how life is .’ I had no idea that it was a kind of sickness I was suffering from . Now I know , because after getting treated and learning the Trauma Tapping I feel completely different .”
Sometimes people need examples of symptoms , to be able to understand that they can be symptoms of post-traumatic stress . During a TTT training in the community of Mumosho in eastern Congo we started talking about the symp- toms of trauma , listing them on the blackboard in the classroom , for example problems sleeping , loss of hope , acting crazy or feeling aggressive .
The participants exclaimed :
“ Maybe that ’ s why Mama Rose is behaving so strangely , she is running around without clothes . She is actually traumatised .”
“ Aha , that ’ s why I sleep so badly .”
“ So that ’ s why my neighbour ’ s children scream at night .”
Somebody even said :
“ Is that me you are writing about ? I have all those symptoms .”
We do not measure traumatic stress or make a diagnosis apart from the
Subjective Units of Distress ( SUD ) scale of calibration 0-10 , because in our context we don ’ t and it necessary . Our definition of traumatic stress is when an emotionally charged memory or reaction from the past keeps coming to your mind in situations you cannot control , and makes you feel distressed in various ways . If it does , TTT can help alleviate that distress and the negative emotions and reactions connected to it .