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On the 24th of March, around 150 members of the Somali community met in the Banquet Hall of the BOSCO centre to introduce the RAJO Project. RAJO, the Somali word for hope, is a multi-agency therapeutic crime prevention and intervention for Somali-Canadian youth and their families in Ottawa and Edmonton to reduce youth violence and build resilience. The event included speeches from Jibril Ibrahim, President of the Somali-Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton, Site Supervisor Mirande Alexandre, and Dr. Mertella Montague, acting mental health clinician of the project.
The executive director of the Canadian Friends of Somalia, Farah Aw-Osman and Project Manager Adar Abdulkadir, both visiting from Ottawa also presented details about the project and partnership. The RAJO team also includes Zaki Hirabe, Sumiya Musse, Mussa Yusuf and Faisa Omer. The event also included a thorough discussion between community members and the team about the need for an intervention and ways to help the community.
