John, Weeks ago my colleague Charity shared a story with you about Halima, a mother who had fled across the border from Somalia into Kenya because of food shortages. My name is Moulid and I recently travelled to Somalia, to the area that Charity told you about. When I was there, I met lots of mothers just like Halima, and today I want to share a story with you about someone that particularly touched my heart. Her name is Fathi Mohamed Ali. “The best of us cooks one meal a day,” Fathi told me. “There are people who stay hungry for three to four days [because] they have nothing to cook. There are children who died of hunger and diarrhea recently.” Before having to flee to save their family’s lives, Fathi and her husband used to grow fruits and vegetables at their home. But as the country was hit with unparalleled drought, flooding and cyclones, crops started to fail. And as crops failed again and again, the price of food went up and up. Now, even basic necessities are beyond the means of refugees and displaced families who have already lost everything. Fathi is struggling to survive this hunger crisis that has hit the East Africa region and is crippling Somalia. She is one of over a million people who have been forced to flee in Somalia, leaving everything behind. With nothing left, mothers, uprooted from their homes like Fathi, are unable to buy their own food. They are the hardest hit by the hunger crisis. “We came to an empty land with no shelter, and we had nothing in our possession as we left everything behind.” Fathi and her husband now live in a makeshift shelter in a camp, cobbled together from tree branches and pieces of old clothes, and have no way to feed their children. Tragically, she is just one of over a million people in Somalia who have been forced to flee their homes in a single year. Now her family’s life is uncertain. Their future, unknown.
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