In Somaliland, Starr has spent many years cultivating supporters and developing social networks to protect him. He’s a very strategic guy who scans the local area for powerful protectors (I know, I read his book). This is what has allowed him to function in Somaliland after a rough few years in the beginning. He will not have this network in Puntland. In the eyes of the locals there, he will just be another gaal in the NGO-circuit. I don’t think he has the energy to repeat the process of building trust in Puntland--it was long and difficult in Somaliland. So Puntland will need another Jonathan Starr. But the only issue is, there’s not very many of his type in the world —drop everything, pursue a moral cause in one of the toughest environments in Africa, preserve despite early and elevated hostility from the local population, have the competence and social networks to generate millions in donations from wealthy Wall Street types and big grants from the U.S government, run a thriving school that has placed students in places such as Harvard and Brown. Quite the achiever!