A home for Liberians / helping them cope with torture

By Douglas A. Johnson

Last update: April 8, 2009 - 5:49 PM

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Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, will speak to a crowd at Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota Friday. Her visit is an opportunity to shine a light on the large and vibrant Liberian community here. The cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center are home to some 20,000 Liberian refugees. Though these families have become part of the fabric of the community, their stories and struggles remain unique.

With more than 85 percent unemployment, Liberia is still recovering from a brutal civil war that engulfed the entire country. Some 270,000 Liberians now reside outside that country. Few people who lived through the war were not traumatized. Liberians in Minnesota have largely adjusted to American life — earning college and graduate degrees, paying taxes and raising strong families. Even as they move forward with rebuilding lives here, the violent conflict that they escaped remains with many of them.

In the heart of our quiet community lie deep, often concealed, scars. Of the 20,000 Liberian refugees here, 8,500 are likely survivors of torture or war trauma. There is likely no other refugee community in Minnesota where post-traumatic stress disorder or symptoms of war trauma have been as widespread.

To address the complex needs of refugees in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park, in 2005, the Center for Victims of Torture launched the “New Neighbors, Hidden Scars” project to identify and fill the gaps in critical social services by linking resources within community. We bring together schools, clinics, churches and social service organizations to expand their knowledge of the impact of torture and enhance resources available for healing. The response has been heartwarming. One local police department reached out to refugees offering orientation classes for newcomers and supported Liberian girls in a kickball league.

Children in Liberia did not escape the war’s astonishing brutality. To address their needs, we began working with schools. From junior high and high school to elementary, schools in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center — with little knowledge of the effects of torture and war trauma—have had to quickly learn how to help students whose aggressive behavior is rooted in untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. We help social service staff identify students in need and learn how to assist them in the classroom. We also created school-based trauma treatment programs.

For 20 years, Minnesota has opened its arms to Liberians fleeing unimaginable violence. Seizing the opportunity, tens of thousands of Liberians became our neighbors and rebuilt their lives. Building on the remarkable progress that many who fled the war have already made, we must continue to support this community by offering them hope and letting them know that all of us are cheering for them to succeed.

Douglas A. Johnson, Minneapolis; executive director, Center for Victims of Torture (www.cvt.org).

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