One year after opening its liaison office in Kenya, Somali Family Services brought its partners and friends together for a reception at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi to further raise awareness of its contributions to the political and social development of Puntland, Somalia. At the reception on June 17, 2011, those close to SFS’s work learned more about the variety of its programming, while newer friends who were less familiar with the organization’s work were introduced to its library and resource center, human rights trainings, youth empowerment initiatives and much more.

Puntland Liaison Officer Mohamed Hassan Barre kicked the program off by welcoming SFS’s guests and thanking them for their work both with, and independent of, SFS to help rebuild Puntland. In addition to SFS’s own presentation of its mission and projects, Stephen Ndichu of Diakonia and April Powell-Willingham of the UNDP spoke about their long-standing partnerships with SFS, praising the organization’s past work and calling on others to help support SFS’s future endeavors.

SFS hopes that by exposing people to the breadth of SFS’s work and testimonials from those who have worked closely with SFS, the event will lead to stronger, mutually beneficial relationships with the 25 organizations whose representatives attended the event.