Culture and health intensives - AM

Over 15,000 West African immigrants call the Brooklyn Park/Brooklyn Center suburbs northwest of Minneapolis home.  Estimates reveal that more than half of them are survivors of torture and war trauma.  Many require assistance in healing their physical and psycholgoical wounds. In addition to long-term individual consequences of state-sponsored violence, it strategically destroys communities, natural sources of healing, by creating climates of fear and by breaking the bonds of solidarity among people. 

The New Neighbors/Hidden Scars project brings together schools, clinics, churches and other organizations to help Liberian and other war refugees in Minnesota heal from their physical and emotional wounds. Work with community structures helps provide appropriate health care and resources.  Strategies that help people to regain leadership and strength provide the means for this community to again offer support, meaningful structure, and the capacity to encourage recovery for its members.

Three years into the project, the New Neighbors/Hidden Scars multi-disciplinary team is evaluating its work, producing curriculum for schools and support groups, solidifying education and resource-building, and turning over the leadership of the providers' network to the community.  Hear what the team and the community has learned about the work of, and the challenges of, capacity-building for a population new to the area and in need of healing.