Day 217

Christianity is not doing so hot in Somalia. According to Wikipedia (however reliable that is) there are only 1000 practicing Christians in the total population of 8 million. Last month a Christian, Juma Nuradin Kamil, in southern Somalia was kidnapped by the al Shabaab. People searched for him for 2 weeks until a group of passerby's saw his body dumped on the side of the road. He had been decapitated, and the people in town were even afraid to bury him because they might be associated with him as a Christian by the al Shabaab. There is a small underground church in the area, and a leader mentioned that this was a typical thing to happen to Christians there and that they greatly miss Kamil. This persecution of Christians is not only limited to the insurgent group, though. Even the President of Somalia supports a version of Sharia law that requires the death penalty for those who leave Islam. We can at least be thankful for the 1000 faithful Christians in Somalia and pray for a revival there.

Day 230

Somalia has had a tumultuous history. It was ruled by various people until July 1, 1960 when Britain and Italy granted Independence to two separate pieces of land and conjoined them to make the Republic of Somalia. Their president was assassinated in 1969 and the military took control of the country and renamed it the Somali Democratic Republic. This new organization leaned heavily towards the USSR and openly allied with rebels in Ethiopia, even participating in an 8 month war against Ethiopia in 1977. Somalia lost most of their army, tanks, and planes. President Siad Barre (who took over in 1969) fled the country in 1991 and left it in the hands of guerrilla groups. They had no established government from this time until a fragile government was formed in 2000. This expired in 2003, and left no one in charge of the country. It was ineffective and only had control of 10 percent of Somalia. In 2004 a parliament was established and elected a president, Abdullahi Yusuf. There was a terrible famine in 1992 that killed 300,000 people. The US and UN intervened in this time to help with relief efforts until the US pulled out when a warlord dragged American bodies through the streets. Different groups established unofficial rule in parts of the country until the governments were formed in 2000 and 2004. In May of 2006, an Islamic group (the Somali Islamic Courts Council) invaded and took over the capitol, Mogadishu. The Ethiopian government assisted President Yusuf and sent troops to drive the SICC out. The US stepped in in 2007 with air strikes against Islamists suspected of bombing the US Embassy in Kenya and the fighting increased. Somali people began fleeing and the military branch of the SICC, the Al-Shabab, continued to gain strength, even aligning itself with al-Qaeda. By February of 2007, they controlled much of the southern part of the country. Suicide bombs also occured in the northern, more peaceful part of Somalia. President Yusuf resigned and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was chosen as President in January 2009. People hoped that this would be a way for Somalia to move toward peace after 18 years of conflict. Now, they are struggling with this terrible famine. They have had a rough go of it!

Day 240

I've just been thinking a lot lately. With college, career options, and even just things this upcoming year, I have a lot of decisions to make right now. One thing I do know is how excited I am to work in medicine! Just the other day I saw an ambulance go by and I realized that I could not wait to be on the receiving end of that or in a hospital and really being able to help people. It just made me so excited to think of all the possibilities I have in the upcoming years. I've also been thinking about using that desire in the mission field. In Mountains Beyond Mountains, Paul Farmer is a doctor who devotes most of his time to serving in Haiti. He actually went there immediately after college and simply wandered around for about a year. He wanted to truly get a sense of the country and the people. Then he went to medical school and opened up a clinic that addressed all the needs he had seen during his time just roaming the country. I think it is so important to study the culture of where you hope to serve, as Paul Farmer shows us. If you know the people, then you can interact in a meaningful way and make a difference. I hope that God puts a place on my heart so that I can study it and really learn why it is the way it is!

Day 249

QUICK FACTS

Location: The Horn of Africa (Eastern edge), it is slightly smaller than Texas

Population: 9,925,640

Background: Life expectancy is around 50 years old, most people only attend school 3 years, main religion is Sunni Muslim

Problems: Very little water or viable farmland, prone to droughts, most people don't have clean water or sanitation

ABOUT THE FAMINE

This famine is affecting Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Dijibouti, and other nearby countries and is called the worst famine in 60 years. But, because of strife and the lack of a national government Somalia is by far the worst affected country. There area an estimated 4 million people in Somalia alone who are in need of food aid. Many are attempting to flee the country and go to places like Kenya for aid. There is a refugee camp right across the border from Somalia in Kenya that has reported a rise in the numbers of malnourished children that have come across the border. 29000children under the age of 5 have died from the famine in just the past 90 days and some 750000 people are at risk of dying in the next 4 months is aid is not increased. Aid groups say that they are just not able to get into south and central Somalia, where the largest part of the problem is located.

Just some cheery tidbits that I have found in my reshearch. Hopefully, it can help you realize the scope of the problem.

Day 260

So, possible change of plans! While I still am hoping to learn all that I can about Nicaragua, I don't think I will focus on that location for the medical side of my project. After researching the country, they really don't have that many health problems. That is great news to hear, but then unfortunately it doesn't accomplish what I was hoping to in the class. After talking with my dad, I have begun researching the situation that is going on in Somalia. There are 12 million people starving in that region of Africa. Unfortunately I can't feed them all, but hopefully through research I can learn about why the situation came about and how to bring awareness and help. It is such a big problem with all the political turmoil on top of the famine that I think people just tend to ignore the problem. So, I'm not going to ignore it. We'll see what happens!

Day 267

Well, here it goes! For anyone who is actually reading this besides my teachers (hi, Kate!), I guess I should explain exactly what I am doing here. I'm in an independent study at my school called Senior Academy. In it, we pick a topic that we want to spend a year researching and working with. After college, I am planning on going to Physician Assistant school and working in that field. And, I really want to use my degree as a missions tool, whether that means moving somewhere or volunteering locally or whatever the Lord leads me to do. So, what better idea than to study medical missions and specific needs in underprivileged areas? This year, I also have to awesome opportunity to be co-chairman for HEROES week (my school's annual fundraiser for a deserving cause) and we are raising money for a school in Nicaragua. I decided that since I am going to be spending so much time working with and researching Nicaragua that I should focus my study to that area of the world.

So, with all that being said my plan this upcoming year is to research in Nicaragua and the surrounding area what their medical needs are and what I can do about it. For all we know, there may be thousands of kids who are sick because they have a vitamin deficiency that is so easily treatable or a virus spreads through an entire town because no one has educated them on disease prevention steps. Those are both such easy things to fix that would only require vitamins and an educational class that could keep many more people healthy.

I'm getting ready to read the book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder to begin my study. It is about a very talented doctor who decides to use his skills to prevent disease in the countries that need him the most. As soon as it arrives and I get started I'll report back on how it is going!