Somalia: The Most Destitute People I’ve Ever Seen
Medair’s Stella Chetham visits a displacement camp in Somaliland.
On the outskirts of Burao city, families in crowded camps live in unspeakable poverty. Many of them fled from their homes and livelihoods to escape the violence in south-central Somalia. Here they are safe, but they have nothing. And here they struggle to survive the region’s deadliest drought in decades.
When I visit these camps, I’m amazed to see the things they use to make their shelters. An old pair of jeans becomes part of the roof, empty cement sacks become walls, a mattress is raised on tin cans to make a bed. Nothing is wasted.
In a large camp, I sit with Maryam Mohamad Ali, a mother of six, her 15-day-old newborn in her arms. When Maryamtells her story, all I can do is listen.
Maryam’s Story
Maryam holds her newborn baby in a makeshift shelter
“When the war started, the militia started raping women and taking their property. We were cultivating grain to survive, but they came and took it. Two militia soldiers came into my house, one intimidated me and the other raped me. My children were in the house with me and started crying. I feel sad when I remember.”
Maryamand her family fled Mogadishu on foot. They walked non-stop for almost a month, finally reaching Galkayo: “We stayed for two months in Galkayo, begging to survive and to get transport to Burao. During that time, bandits stole our clothes from us.
“Since we got here, we are secure, we have a stable life, but we don’t have much to survive on. We beg for food and clothes. The people in Burao help us. But now I have just delivered a baby and my husband is gone. I can’t go to beg at the moment because I’ve just given birth. My seven-year-old daughter goes to town to beg, and brings home money for us to survive.”
Zainab Abdi Nur and her young son outside her shelter in the camp.
“Life is better here,” says Zainab. “We go to town and beg, receive a little money and food, and organisations are providing some things for us, so life is better. Medair has provided us with latrines and plastic sheets, and my baby son started in the feeding programme a week ago.”
My heart breaks for these women as I listen to them tell their stories. How can they say that life is better here, when they are living in such desperate circumstances? It only shows how awful their lives must have been before.
Seeing and meeting the people living in these camps has had an unforgettable effect on me. Sometimes in the West, it’s hard to imagine what real poverty looks like. If I could define it or give you a picture of it, it would come from right here in these camps.
Still, I know that with your help, we are making a real difference here. Medair runs a comprehensive programme in the camps, treating malnourished children, improving water access, latrines, and hygiene, and supporting maternal health.
“When we started working here, there was an acute shortage of hygiene education, dire need for latrine facilities, and the solid waste situation was a quagmire,” Medair’s Daniel Ndege tells me. “They didn’t have places to shower, there was open defecation all over, and generally the condition of the camps was bad. We’ve constructed latrines, distributed portable incinerators for solid waste disposal, and trained hygiene volunteers.”
On the day of my visit, I’m thrilled to witness the water supply being turned on for the first time in the camp. Finding clean drinking water has been a major problem here. People have had to buy water from tanker trucks, or walk long distances and pay high prices to fill their jerry cans.
Medair staff digs a trench for the pipe that connects the camp with Burao’s water supply.
When I leave the camp, I leave behind people who live every day in the most precarious of situations, not knowing how they are going to get by from one day to the next. They are the most destitute people I’ve ever seen. Yet when I talk with them I find a courageous, warm, and dignified people. There is so much I would like to do to help them that is outside my power, but what I can do is tell you about them.
Please don’t forget them. They have suffered unbelievably. They truly have nothing. I know that if we were not working here, their situation would be even more unbearable.
But thanks to you, we are assisting them with basic services so that they can wash, drink clean water, and maintain hygiene with some dignity. We are feeding their malnourished children and providing health support for mothers. I truly hope we can continue to do more to work alongside these courageous people.
Please make a donation today.
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Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991. Its independence has not been recognised by the international community.
This web feature was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
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