Last month I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to visit some of the famine affected areas of Somalia. As most people know by now, Somalia faced the worst drought in 60 years in 2011 and by August, the United Nations declared famine in six regions of Somalia, threatening the lives of over 250,000 Somalis and requiring urgent humanitarian assistance for millions of people across the Horn of Africa. In February 2012, the UN declared the end of the famine but of course the needs of the people were still ever present.
I wanted to see what the conditions on the ground were post-famine and how the lives of those displaced by the famine were.
A group of us traveled to Mandera and crossed the border to the cities of Beledhawo, Dolow and the small villages in between.
Before arriving in Mandera, we stayed in Nairobi for a few days where on the first night I was greeted by the buzzing sounds of mosquitoes. Last time I was in Africa was during a work trip to Ghana some 8 years ago so mosquito music had gone to the back of my head! Needless to say the mosquitoes had a feast biting me. Last time I was in Nairobi was also a long time ago, 14 years to be exact. Much has changed. One senses the city has indeed become a global hub for all things Africa. But what I was happy to encounter to not have changed is the humility and friendliness of the Kenyan people. Eastleigh is of course still 'Eslii' but the neighbourhood's businesses are booming more than ever. If one can bear with the dirty streets and rubbish piles, you'll find the nicest 5 star hotels, complete with a sewage view...
At 5.30am on the second of April, we arrived at Wilson airport to fly to Mandera. Mandera was hot, humid and dusty and tension was in the air. Just a mere few days earlier, clashes between the local tribes occurred which led to many of the residents fleeing into Somalia or the rural areas. Luckily things had been settled between the people by the time we arrived but schools were still closed and the city did not have the usual buzz of life. Soldiers guarded the streets by day and silence by night.
I was keen to see Somalia, mingle with the people. I found them to be amazingly at ease with whatever their lot was. In Beledhawo, on the outskirts, there is an IDP camp called Tuulo-Amin. This camp holds between 1800-2500 displaced people and most of them fled from the Bay, Bakool, Mid and Lower Shabelle regions which were all affected by the famine last year. I met a beautiful young lady at the camp, Sulekha. She told me she fled her village in Bakool with her six younger siblings, leaving behind both her parents as they were too weak to walk. She also has children and a husband of her own. She is only 20 years old. These are the silent heroes of strength bearing the real burdens of responsibility.
In Beledhawo, there is a dire need for the rebuilding of basic infrastructure. The city has been engulfed by constant warfare and people are scared to invest. This means basic healthcare, primary education and adequate sanitation facilities are in dire need.
Some 35 km away from Beledhawo is the city of Dolow. There is a vast contrast between the two cities. Dolow has not been affected by the conflict as much as Beledhawo has so one will find Dolow to be more built. There is an airport where aid agencies can deliver aid directly, the town centre has some healthy businesses and people's basic needs seem to be met. Here too, there is a large IDP camp populated with over 2000 people, mostly from the same regions as those in Beledhawo. Because these people look to be of African descent, the other local Somalis discriminate harshly against them. This often affects the way food is distributed in the camp.
Outside of Dolow, in the rural areas, population has grown dense and pastoral people do not move around anymore. The famine wiped out all of their livestock and although it has rained, people have nothing to move with and can therefore not rebuild their lives. Walking through the rural areas, it is immensely dry. The greenery of the land has vanished. The rain that fell between September and December last year did not make much of a difference to that part of the country and this speaks of the magnitude of the effects of the drought. The rain actually brought a surge in waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and malaria and without adequate healthcare coupled with lack of hygiene, people continue to die in the thousands.
I flew back to Nairobi and back home with a heavy heart and much to ponder on. For one, I was happy to find that the security conditions in South Somalia were gravely exaggerated. People were all but advising us against going there but I firmly believe we as a people will never be able to bring effective change if we continue to be scared, watching from the sidelines.
I found the most pressing need in that area at this moment to be healthcare rather than food aid. Although food is immensely needed, local aid agencies as well as some international ones are actively distributing food on a regular basis, albeit in short supply. Also many Somalis have relatives abroad that send them remittances.
With regards to healthcare, the whole region shares 4 doctors, two of whom are private and people cant afford to pay for healthcare and the other two, who are meant to be based in the Beledhawo hospital are instead in Mandera, citing 'security issues'.
Alongside healthcare relief, methods to move people from emergency relief to development for them to be self-sufficient again should be put in place. In addition to the human catastrophe, environmental degradation and deforestation have robbed the country of its life. All these elements combined, the likelihood of another famine becomes unfortunately inevitable.
