In the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, the second largest home of East African refugees in the U.S., youth workers noticed some troubling trends.
“We were seeing young men in their early 20s using drugs, not going to college, ending up in prison,” said Jama Mohamed, Program Coordinator and Making Connections Project Lead at United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST). “We kept having this conversation: ‘What do we need to do?’”
The loss of five young men in a string of suicides propelled the community to action. The United Women of East Africa, an organization originally created to serve refugee mothers and their children, reached out to other groups in the close-knit community and forged a partnership to address concerns facing young men as part of the Making Connections initiative. Partners include the African Coalition Workforce, Southern Sudanese Community Center, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), and Center for Community Health at the University of California, San Diego.
“Suicide is rare back home,” said Mohamed, who was born in Somalia. “Over here, in the United States, it’s a different environment. It has to do with the tremendous stress.”
Refugees who may have experienced traumatic events in East Africa often face yet another set of challenges when they arrive in the U.S., including lack of educational and economic opportunities, unsafe living conditions and isolation. Further compounding the problems are stigmas in the East African communities around mental health and the challenges of transitioning to a different culture.
“It’s different to feel alone here,” Mohamed said. “It’s a more individualized culture; even brothers become strangers. We recognize people are not connected and, somehow, our cultural identity is being lost.”
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