Layla and Zam Zam
World Vision UK Chief Executive, Justin Byworth, is in the Horn of Africa, where drought is endangering the lives of some 13 million people.
A wind as hot as a hair dryer greeted us as we stepped off the plane here for my first day in Somalia.
Somalia is renowned for pirates, war and famine, all of which are in evidence here, but what struck me as much as anything today is the intelligence and resourcefulness of the Somali people.
Layla, only 24 years old, a mother of five and pregnant with a sixth, fled to Garowe all the way from Mogadishu (almost 1,000 kilometres south from here) just three months ago. Her youngest child, 18-month-old Zam Zam, arrived severely malnourished. Local World Vision staff met her here amidst thousands of displaced people a few weeks ago and have helped Layla begin Zam Zam’s recovery to health, providing sachets of nutritious Plumpy’nut, which we use worldwide to combat acute child malnutrition.
Layla, 24, with 18-month-old Zam Zam
Beautiful , bright eyed little Zam Zam has gained weight and Layla told me that after she gives Zam Zam the Plumpy’nut each morning and evening, “she has more energy”, but that “she’s still too weak to stand up”.
Surrounded by the press and hubbub of woman and children in this crowded camp of displaced people, I’m struck at the contrast with Dadaab. Although the numbers are much less here, more and more people are arriving each day and there is little sign of the many agencies bringing relief that I saw in Dadaab.
I’m in Puntland, one of the three major parts of Somalia, one that’s all too often forgotten despite the fact that it’s doing a pretty good job trying to forge stability in this, the world’s most famous “failed state”. We discussed this with the Vice-President here, a frank and constructive dialogue on what the government, World Vision and other agencies can and should be doing about the drought.
Like other places I’ve visited over the last week, drought is nothing new here. It’s been here all too often in recent years and what’s most needed is long term solutions, especially water.
Justin surveys makeshift homes in Puntland
World Vision’s programme in Puntland over the next few years has water at its heart – not just the provision of boreholes but innovative ways of helping the pastoralist communities preserve the water they do get from the occasional rains.
Simple earth-built structures can check the flow of water so that it’s absorbed into the soil rather than running away, leaving behind erosion and little benefit.
We’ve got a great team here – a mixture of local Somalis and expatriates drawn from across Africa and beyond. It’s quite a life for them in this remote place, living in the same compound as our office. Security is a daily concern, with close monitoring and strict procedures for communications and travel.
This small town seems deceptively quiet with its neat blue and green roofed houses, quietly atmospheric as the Muslim call to prayer echoes around the mosques as the sun sets. The armed guards are a reminder of the risks though, as was the news this weekend of over 20 killed in fighting not too far south of here. We’re headed in that direction in the morning, security allowing.
