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Displaced in the desert

A displaced woman at a desert camp in Somalia's Mudug region. (Photo: Peter Biro/IRC)

The IRC brings aid and hope to victims of famine and fighting in central Somalia.
Text and Photos by Peter Biro
GALKAYO, Somalia - 17 Nov 2011 -  

Famine in Somalia

  • <p>The number of Somalis fleeing to Kenya has slowed to a trickle since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in pursuit of Al Shabab militants. As a result, thousands of people are trapped inside Somalia with few safe places to go. After fleeing their home in the south, this family found refuge in a makeshift camp in Galkayo in central Somalia.</p>
  • <p>This woman took shelter in Galkayo after fleeing clan fighting in the Mudug region. Somalia has been beset by such fighting since 1991 when the former central government was toppled by rival clan militias.</p>
  • <p>The Sa&rsquo;ad clan militia - some of their fighters are pictured here - regularly fight rival clans over access to water and other resources. This fall an outbreak of violence in Galkayo killed at least 30 people and displaced hundreds.</p>
  • <p>Somalia is awash with weapons and violence. In addition to an insurgency led by Al Shabab, one of Africa&rsquo;s most fearsome militant Islamist groups, the country is beset by widespread piracy and kidnapping.</p>
  • <p>Galkayo is an important livestock and business center. The town has seen its population grow as rudimentary camps have sprung up to house those fleeing famine and fighting. This woman fled clan fighting in Mudug.</p>
  • <p>Hamdi Hussein Hassan, 32, lost her husband and two children when a mortar shell hit her house in Mogadishu. The country&rsquo;s capital sees frequent clashes between Al Shabab and African Union peacekeeping forces. She fled to Galkayo with her surviving daughter, left paralyzed by the blast, and now lives in a small shelter made from sticks and cardboard.</p>
  • <p>The drought in Somalia and East Africa has been exacerbated by fighting and by aid workers&#39; lack of access to much of southern Somalia. Here, children fetch water at a tap installed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the village of Darssalam in central Somalia.</p>
  • <p>Women fetch water at an IRC-drilled well. The IRC is building and repairing wells, hand pumps and pipelines in Somalia&rsquo;s Mudug region, as well as training community volunteers in hygiene.</p>
  • <p>The drought has devastated livestock, a catastrophe for people who are mainly pastoralists and derive their income from animals. To prevent further losses, the IRC has built water troughs for animals and vaccinated and de-wormed some 35,000 livestock.</p>
  • <p>IRC workers de-worm goats in Do&rsquo;ol village.</p>
  • <p>Abdi Hussein Farah, 40, lost more than 100 goats in the drought. After trekking through the desert with his few remaining animals he built a shelter near the village of Do&rsquo;ol. &ldquo;I have only a few goats left now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Here, they have a better chance of survival.&rdquo;</p>
  • <p>Salado Ali Salat, 35, is one of hundreds of displaced Somalis who have received goats from the IRC.</p>
  • <p>With no end in sight to Somalia&rsquo;s civil conflict, the effects of the drought are expected to last into 2012 and beyond. &ldquo;The situation in Somalia is probably the largest catastrophe in the world at the moment,&rdquo; says Prafulla Mishra, the IRC&rsquo;s Somalia director.</p>
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The IRC is providing livestock, water and food to tens of thousands of people in Somalia who have fled the country’s most devastating drought and famine in 60 years.

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The IRC brings aid and hope to victims of famine and fighting in central Somalia

A displaced woman at a desert camp in Somalia's Mudug region.
A displaced woman at a desert camp in Somalia's Mudug region. (Photo: Peter Biro/IRC)

[[SLIDESHOW]]

Text and Photos by Peter Biro

GALKAYO, Somalia - The first rays of the sun cast a soft golden glow over Galkayo, a ramshackle city of tin hovels and tents in north central Somalia. The Muslim call to prayer is being broadcast over cracked speakers perched on top of a nearby Mosque and the dusty streets are almost empty as our car drives into the surrounding desert.

Our destination is the village of Do’ol, one of many settlements crowded with people who have fled the country’s most devastating drought and famine in 60 years. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is providing livestock, water and food to tens of thousands of displaced people in the region, which the lack of rain has turned into an arid wasteland.
 
Following close behind is a car driven by six heavily armed men—our bodyguards. Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous places for aid workers, several of whom have been kidnapped by ransom-seeking militia groups and pirates.
 
For three hours I see nothing but orange-colored sand and dry shrubs as we skip across the uneven terrain. When we finally arrive in Do’ol, a team of IRC workers is herding hundreds of loudly bleating goats into a small pen in preparation for medical checkups and de-worming. The deadly drought has killed thousands of goats, cows and other precious livestock. These animals are all that have survived.
 
“This is a catastrophe for people who are mainly pastoralists and derive their income from animals,” explains my traveling companion, Farhan Ahmed, who manages IRC programs in Galkayo.
 
To prevent further loss of livestock, the IRC has built water troughs and vaccinated and de-wormed over 35,000 animals.
 
Some of the goats receiving treatment belong to 40-year-old Abdi Hussein Farah, a pastoralist herdsman from central Somalia. Farah has already seen more than of 100 of his goats die. His remaining animals were so malnourished that they stopped lactating. After trekking through the desert he built a rough shelter near Do’ol, where conditions are only marginally better.
 
“I only have a few animals left,” he says. “Here they have a better chance of survival.”
 
Since the onset of the famine, tens of thousands of Somalis have fled to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia in search of help. Last month that escape route was shut off when Kenyan troops crossed into Somalia in pursuit of Al-Shabab militants who Kenya blames for carrying out kidnappings inside Kenya. Al-Shabab is also widely blamed for exacerbating the famine inside Somalia by forcing out many Western aid organizations, depriving drought victims of desperately needed food. 
 
As a result of the fighting, hundreds of thousands of destitute people are now displaced inside Somalia, with little access to humanitarian aid.
 
Salado Ali Salat, 35, is one of them. She and her five children fled their home after her crops failed and then walked for days before reaching Hilmo, a small hamlet which has seen its population triple from an influx of displaced people.
 
When Salado reached Hilmo she learned about an IRC program that distributes livestock to displaced people. Salado was given five goats.
 
“I had no income before,” she says, clutching one of the animals. “The goats give me milk to feed my children and sell in the market to buy rice.”
 
The IRC also offers displaced people the chance to take part in a “cash-for-work” program designed to help people get back on their feet quickly by providing temporary jobs rebuilding roads, water supplies and health facilities.
 
Nearly 80,000 Somalis, including almost 20,000 displaced people, have received help through this program. The IRC has also built and repaired wells, hand pumps and pipelines in the region and trained community volunteers in hygiene. 
 
“We want to be able to reach even more people but the fighting and lack of access to much of the country makes it extremely difficult,” Farhan Ahmed says as we head back to Galkayo.
 
A long-term solution to Somalia’s misery seems more distant than ever. In the meantime it is women, children, the disadvantaged and the displaced who are suffering the most. It is for them that the IRC will keep on digging wells and building latrines and improving the health of livestock that families depend on for survival.
 

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