GLOBAL PARTNERS

How your gifts to Lott Carey make God’s love real in Somalia

You were there when large numbers of displaced people migrated to what had been a small port town on the coast of Somalia.

Before the outbreak of civil war in Somalia, Bosaso had perhaps five thousand residents. But because it did not suffer any major factional conflicts during the long period of civil strife in Somalia, it was an attractive destination for families seeking freedom from danger along with new employment opportunities.

Unfortunately, that meant a rapid — and chaotic — expansion of the town. It rapidly went from five thousand people to what is now estimated as a population of one hundred and twenty thousand people. As you can imagine, this rapid grow overwhelmed the town’s infrastructure in many ways, including its health facilities.

Mental health services, in particular, have become severely deficient, especially given the large numbers of new residents (both children and adults) who have experienced high levels of trauma and social abandonment.

With little or no psychosocial interventions available, people with mental health needs were being chained and confined. Some were subjected to stone throwing or extreme isolation. Others were stigmatized and discriminated against, facing extreme barriers to any kind social reintegration or acceptance.

But through Lott Carey’s mission partner, the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, you were there. Most residents of Bosaso are Muslim, but you were there, practicing what the book of James calls true religion—a religion that is pure and undefiled, a religion that cares for orphans and widows and all who are experiencing the most traumatic kinds of distress.

Through Lott Carey’s mission partner, you were able to strengthen mental health services in this once-small but now booming city.

Naturally, more still needs to be done, but a strong start has been made: strengthening mental health facilities for those living with extreme distress, supplying pscyhotropic drugs to those who need them, maintaining mental health records, and offering a safe haven for those are misunderstood by their neighbors.

Lott Carey’s mission partners have also installed an electrical generator for you in a town that had lost any source of power.

And in the footsteps of the one who is described as calming the winds and the waves, Lott Carey’s compassionate partners stepped in after the big Indian Ocean tsunami. On your behalf, they restored the livelihood of three hundred and twenty-one fishermen who had lost their boats. For the hundreds of distressed families who benefitted from this effort, it was a way making real the words of Jesus: “Peace, be still.”

Through Lott Carey, you make God’s love real in Somalia — and around the world.