Continued Support: Musbah’s Only Hope

Musbah Sherif Ali, 45, lives in Jakdawr Kebele of Kelafo Woreda in Somali’s Shebelle zone. A mother of nine, she works hard with her husband, Farah Abdi Nasir, to make ends meet against the protracted drought to which they lost almost all their cattle and goats. It rained very little in the current rainy season and Musbah does not hope for pasture to regenerate. “We were doing well as a pastoralist family until the drought consumed almost all our livestock. Out of our 22 heads of cattle, only eight are still struggling to survive the drought. We also lost more than 70 goats, and we now keep 30,” said Musbah.

Recently, Musbah has begun receiving animal feed support from Save the Children’s ECHO-HIP project for her core breeding cows and goats. She says the support has helped her remaining animals a lot. She said, “Our two core breed cows and five goats now largely live on the animal feed we receive from Save the Children. We now milk one of the cows, and the other is pregnant. The support has changed our lives for the better. It is the only hope we have for now.”

Musbah appealed that Save the Children continue the animal feed provisions because without that and in the prolonged drought situation, “we may have to flee this village.”

As a lasting way out though, Musbah wishes for the drought to end. “As a pastoralist family, animal rearing is the only thing we know and it cannot be done when the land provides nothing for the animals to graze,” she said.

Funded by ECHO through OXFAM, the project targets 109,304 people in Kelafo, Mustahil and Ferfer Woredas in Somali’s Shebelle zone and aims to contribute to the reduction of morbidity and mortality due to acute malnutrition, water borne diseases and outbreaks. To that end, the project has set aside a total budget of 1,142,096 Euros for its WASH, Health and Nutrition, and Food Security and Livelihood interventions.