A Message from Martina Knee

Hi everyone,

In considering your 2013 year-end donations, one factor affecting your decision may be certainty as to exactly how your money will be spent.  Living Ubuntu would use your contribution to support Trauma Recovery for East African Refugees in San Diego, the 2014 Project summarized below.

Many of you care about the well being of survivors of genocide and mass atrocities.  Increasing numbers of Somalian and Sudanese survivors are refugees struggling to recreate their lives in various U.S. cities.

Living Ubuntu and its partners found in Phase 1 of the Project that over 80% of those refugees evaluated in the City Heights area of San Diego (1) were traumatized by violence, forced evacuation, lack of humanitarian aid, etc., and (2) as a result, suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  This under-recognized condition often results in symptoms such as depression, insomnia, and anxiety. It can lead to secondary ills (e.g., domestic violence; substance abuse; and difficulties in school, work and relationships) impeding or preventing constructive daily activities and participation in the community.

Phase 2: Educating Refugee Leaders on Trauma, PTSD & Recovery was recently successfully completed and paves the way for the launch of Phase 3 in 2014.

Your donation to Living Ubuntu would fund Phase 3: Trauma Recovery for East African Refugees in San Diego.

The Project

Living Ubuntu and its Project partners formed a collaborate of refugee support organizations, university faculty and licensed psychotherapists trained in somatic recovery to research and identify models for effective treatment of PTSD in large populations that transcend cultural differences.

Phase 3

The plan for Phase 3 is:

• A pilot project of weekly sessions for three months with 80 refugees;
• Tension &Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) led by licensed trauma therapy-trained therapists included in each session; and
• Monitoring and evaluation of each refugee’s progress

I am honored to be a member of the Board of Directors of Living Ubuntu. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and an anti-genocide activist, I have experienced and observed first-hand the effect of survivors’ PTSD on their own lives and those of their descendants. One of the Project’s goals is to identify and improve PTSD treatment methods affordable by and accessible to survivors by working with East Africans in San Diego. I firmly believe that “breaking the PTSD cycle” can result in happier and more productive lives for the refugees and their families, facilitating their contributions to local communities and, in the long term, promoting peace.

Barbara English, LMFT, the President and co-founder of Living Ubuntu, the organization’s many volunteers, the refugees in San Diego participating in the Project, and I greatly appreciate your generosity. You can make a one-time donation of any amount or designate a monthly donation here.

Thank you,

Martina Knee
Member, Board of Directors, Living Ubuntu
livingubuntu.org
(949) 891-2005

[Ubuntu] n. a person is a person through other persons