BY MISAN HARRIMAN
I travelled to the Somaliland region of Somalia with Save the Children to use my lens and my voice to bring attention to the devastating impact that years of drought is having on people across East Africa. I have seen some media reports on drought and hunger in Somalia, but not enough when you consider the country is experiencing its worst drought for 40 years.
As a Black African photographer, I wanted to go and see what was happening myself. It was important to me to not just tell the stories of tragedy, but also show the hope and the resilience of the children, parents and grandparents whom I met. We flew into Hargeisa and then embarked on the long drive to the small city of Burao in Somaliland. We used this as our base to visit the communities worst affected by Somalia’s drought, where over half of children are suffering from acute malnutrition. I met children struggling to survive, and spoke to parents who are facing an impossible struggle to find food for their children whose bodies are failing them. As a father of two little girls, it was truly heartbreaking.
The impact of year after year with very little rain means that rural communities here are struggling to maintain a way of life that’s been held for centuries. For most families I spoke to, the drought has killed around 80 per cent of their livestock, which they rely on for food and an income. This has forced the fittest members of the family – often young men – to travel in search of water and better pasture for their animals, leaving mothers and their children behind with very little food to survive on.
The results of this were incredibly difficult to witness. I saw tiny babies and children with swollen stomachs, peeling skin and incredibly thin limbs – some of the telltale signs of the deadliest form of malnutrition. One mother I met had a nine-month-old boy who weighed the same as a newborn baby. He was suffering from severe acute malnutrition and was struggling to eat without vomiting. A young girl I spoke to told me she no longer goes to school and has no friends, after the drought forced her and her family to leave their home in search of food and water.
The people of Somalia are used to failed rains and harvests but the overriding takeaway from my trip was how unprecedented this situation is. I met with community elders in their 80s who have lived through countless droughts, but they all said they have never seen anything on this scale before. The situation is very frightening for people. But among the fear and suffering, I also saw hope in these unimaginable circumstances. Save the Children’s local staff are doing lifesaving work. They are running health centres which treat malnourished babies, and they provide food to schools so that children have the energy they need to concentrate on their education. But there are not enough resources to help everyone.
Worryingly, many people do not know what’s happening in Somalia and across the Horn of Africa. The world needs to pay attention, because lives are at risk and the innocent children of these communities do not deserve to suffer because of the lottery of where they were born. We need to be talking about hunger in the Horn of Africa with the same sense of urgency as anything in the news cycle today. Time is not on their side, and every bit of attention on this crisis could be the difference between a child living or dying. I hope my photos illustrate the preventable disaster unfolding before our eyes and urge the world to pay attention and act now.
source: VOGUE
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