AP TELEVISION

Bar Elias, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon - 23 May 2014

1. Liliane Akiki, laughter yoga therapist with Syrian children in tent used as a school in Bar Elias camp, clapping and shouting

2. Various of Liliane Akiki, laughter yoga therapist, clapping and shouting with Syrian children

3. Pan from Akiki to boys laughing and cheering together

4. Close of girls watching and laughing

5.SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Liliane Akiki, laughter yoga therapist:

"Laughing gives positive energy and makes the person be positive in dealing with himself, and accept all the problems or face the ones that he can't ignore. The problems exist, so we can either ignore it or treat them in a better way when we have positive energy in ourselves."

6. Akiki wearing bright glasses, laughing and playing with children outside

7. Children laughing and greeting each other

8. Close up of boys smiling

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marya Abdul Rahman, country director of Heartland Alliance International:

"Sometimes it is hard for kids to talk directly about the problems they are going through, they are in need for a different way that helps them to talk about the problems they are going through. So using laughter, drawing or acting is one way we use so they can talk and express themselves without being afraid, so we are using their language, the language of jumping, playing and laughter, in order for us to be able to help them and make them talk about something that is affecting them and still stuck in themselves."

10. Wide of Syrian children doing exercises with Akiki

11. Children holding hands up and circling eyes whilst laughing

12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Liliane Akiki, laughter yoga therapist:

"Technically, everyone has laughter inside himself. They call it laughing yoga because the laugh starts with breathing exercises. If we laugh in a 'hahaha' way we are inhaling and exhaling, through breathing we move breathing organs to help the laugh come out, and when it is out it takes out all the negative (feelings) with it and surely we reach this state of happiness."

13. Various of Akiki taking the children through the laughter exercises in tent in Bar Elias camp

LEAD IN

Many Syrian refugee children are struggling to cope with the civil conflict in their home country.

One refugee camp in Lebanon has found a novel way of persuading children to open up and express themselves, through laughter yoga therapy.

STORY LINE:

It's an unusual day for young Syrian refugees living in Bar Elias camp in Lebanon's Bekaa valley.

In one of the tents used as a makeshift school, there will be no maths or science lessons today.

Instead they will be learning a different topic: laughter.

The teacher of this quite unusual subject is Liliane Akiki one of the pioneers of laughter yoga in the Middle East and the first laughter therapist in Lebanon.

Akiki has been practicing and teaching laughter yoga in the Middle East since 2009.

She believes that this discipline can help Syrian children briefly forget their troubles and bring smiles back to their faces.

She leads the workshop of around 35 children, in clapping, jumping and other simple exercises at the school tent in Bar Elias camp.

Akiki says laughing has great beneficial effects on a person's well-being.

"Laughing gives positive energy and makes the person be positive in dealing with himself, and accept all the problems or face the ones that he can't ignore."

"The problems exist, so we can treat them in a better way when we have positive energy in ourselves," she explains.

According to humanitarian organisations working in Lebanon, there are thousands of Syrian children in need of psychological support due to the emotional trauma they have been through, the violence in their country followed by the escape to refugee camps.

The laughter session in the Bar Elias camp is part of a project of therapy for Syrian children promoted by the US based non-governmental organisation Heartland Alliance International and Sawa, the Lebanese organisation for Syrian refugees.

The project aims to improve the mental health of young Syrian refugees.

In the past few months, hundreds of Syrian children have been involved in these kinds of activities all over Lebanon.

Marya Abdul Rahman, the country director of Heartland Alliance International, hopes the therapy will help children to open up and to speak about their problems.

"Sometimes it is hard for kids to talk directly about the problems they are going through," Rahman says.

"So using the laughter, drawing or acting is one way we use so they can talk and express themselves without being afraid."

The laughter yoga concept lies in turning motion into emotion by allowing voluntary "fake" laughter to trigger genuine laughter and joy.

It's all in the breathing, Akiki explains.

"Technically, everyone has laughter inside himself."

"Through breathing we move breathing organs to help the laugh come out, and when it is out it takes out all the negative (feelings) with it and surely we reach this state of happiness," she adds.

This method of therapy was founded by Indian physician, Madan Kataria.

He was formerly known as the 'Guru of Giggling' and founded Laughter Yoga International in Mumbai, India.

Other organisations in Lebanon offer Syrian refugee children art therapy, acting and various other recreational activities to help make their situation more bearable.