El Cajon Shooting Victim Was Grieving Death Of Friend

You are listening to KPBS midday edition. Alfred Olango the man shot dead with a refugee from Uganda East Africa. The tragedy of his death gives us a window of opportunity to look at that community living here in San Diego. Also to become more sensitive to them. Jama Mohamed is also a refugee. He is the program coordinator with a group in San Diego. They are advocating for better ways of dealing for better ways. Jama did not know Trent -- Olango. Jama think you for joining us. We also have Sheila savanna from prevention Institute. Sheila caught thank you for being with us. Jama, to start off how is that East African community reacting to the death of Alfred Olango ? The community is not comfortable. Before this happened there was a lot of mistrust between law enforcement and the community. Right now it is worse. The level of trust with authority is even higher. There is lots of mistrust in the community. Some of Olango family said he was dealing with mental health issues. Your group has done research of men after noticing suicides of young men. Wise mental health such a important issue for the community and specifically meant. Unfortunate that East African community were never addressed when it comes to mental health. It's a refugee community and people may not understand when it comes to mental health. We have factors that keeps the community away from mental health issues. Sheila your group is partnering with Jama group. How would you describe the key challenges that East Africans are not getting the mental health care they need. One of our focuses is to look at the environment. Circumstances on the one that happened create a higher level of anxiety and you couple with the fact that men and boys find it hard to seek help and find help that is culturally responsive for them makes it harder for them to get help services or get engaged in mental health services. I think the environmental factors like lack of employment, education and environments that are not supported in helping make adjustments and understanding the ways that boys and men experience coping challenges. Jama you were in a Kenyan refugee camp. Alfred Olango was in a Uganda. There similar cultural of mental illness. There is a stigma with mental health. You look at the concept from the East African community and you look at their perception, mental health thinking any new arrival immigrants it's seen as something as negative. I think the level of addressing these issues is the solution. We need to address these issues and inform the community that these diseases do exist and it's normal to come out and talk about these issues. If those services and opportunities are not provided in their own comfort zone then it's difficult for them to communicate with the community and talk to what they are struggling with. You did not know Trent eight but you had a mutual friend. From what I understood he was friends with one of the young men who committed suicide. From the picture that I've seen they were close. The guy that committed suicide I knew him. He's to live in the same community. I knew that guy who committed suicide. There has to be ties to the level of impact of the mental health. The adjustment coming from a refugee camp experience -- must put strains on the community. I understand suicide is more common in the community than in a wider community. It has become common. We see the trends. That's why we have the opportunity to intercept the problem and address the issues now. The last several years we had six suicide. We begin to notice trends and we need to intervene and address these issues. Sheila what steps do need to be taken to prevent this situation. Training our law enforcement and also training others in the community so that the call that his sister made does not have to be to the police. That there are other options for people who have mental health crisis. We need more funding in mental health. We need more funding in prevention. Things that help communities prepare their neighbors, residents and that kind of training can happen for everyone so we can be a better support network for people that struggle with mental health. Jama Mohamed, program coordinator, Rnited Women of East Africa thank you for being here. Sheila Savannah, director, Prevention Institute thank you for being here as well. Thank you.