Story summary

Fadhi is a mother of three who lives in a small, remote village in Ethiopia's Somali Region. Fadhi's family is a pastoralist family that relies entirely on livestock for income and sustenance. Their means of subsistence have now been impacted by the recent drought that has affected the majority of the Shebelle and Korahe zones in the Somali Region.

Due to the drought caused by five consecutive failed Gu (long) and Dyer (short) rain seasons, Fadhi lost most of her livestock. Fadhi's one-year-old daughter, Anfaa, became seriously ill as a result; suffering from diarrhoea, stomach upset, recurrent vomiting, and a persistent cough. She was then taken to a Save the Children mobile health clinic (OTP centre), where she was weighed, assessed, and treated for severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Her mother was also advised on simple practices such as handwashing with soap to combat malnutrition during this visit.

Fadhi's story in her own words (Quotes)

My name is Fadhi, and my husband and I have three children. They are five, three, and one years old, respectively. We are pastoralists, and our livestock is our only source of income and sustenance. We have not had any rain in the last five seasons. We used to have three camels, eight heads of cattle, and over 100 shoats. We have now lost the majority of them due to the drought. We only have about 30 shots left, a camel provided by my husband's parents, and three heads of cattle.

My name is Fadhi, and my husband and I have three children. They are five, three, and one years old, respectively. We are pastoralists, and our livestock is our sole source of income and sustenance. We have not had any rain in the last five seasons. We used to have three camels, eight heads of cattle, and over 100 shoats. We have now lost most of them due to the drought. We only have about 30 shots left, a camel provided by my husband's parents, and three heads of cattle.
As far as I can recall, we had never seen anything like this before. We lost most of our livestock due to the recent draught in the area, resulting in a lack of food and water for our family.

Anfaa, my youngest daughter, has been sick for three weeks, with a constant fever, stomachache, diarrhea, and vomiting. At the time, I had no idea what had gone wrong, and I kept her at home, hoping that her condition would improve; however, after three days, her condition did not improve, and it actually worsened; she began to lose weight, stopped eating, and did not even smile

When I learned that a clinic had been set up here, I immediately brought her for treatment. I walked for more than three hours in the scorching sun to get to here to the clinic. Here, the health workers examined her, told that she has severe malnutrition, and gave her syrup and plum nuts (peanut pest).

Now, after three weeks of treatment, Anfaa's health has greatly improved. She has regained her appetite and begun to drink milk. She is now happy and playful. I am very happy and grateful for the lifesaving health care and nutrition advice and services we were provided by the health workers. We appreciate receiving this critical service here in our community.

Our main concern right now is a lack of food for our children, as we lost most of our livestock to the draught. Food prices at the local market have also continued to rise by the day, while our income from selling livestock has decreased.

I am a little worried that if the rainfall situation does not improve, we will face a severe food shortage, and that my other children will become ill. We are currently receiving government food assistance, which is insufficient to last even a month. We would appreciate additional assistance until the situation improves.

My daughter's health is improving, and Allah willing, she will be fully recovered soon. I wish the rainfall situation would improve so that we could provide enough food for our children to grow up healthy.

Background / Project information

The Somali Region in general, and the Shebelle and Korahe Zones in particular, have a harsh environment with little rainfall and a very dry climate. Drought occurs frequently in the majority of the areas, and climate change worsens year after year, increasing instances of food scarcity in the communities in this area.

Since 2020, the two main rainy seasons (known locally as Dyer and Gu) have failed completely in most parts of the southern Somali Region. As a result, many families in these areas were affected by a severe drought, which resulted in a critical lack of water, very poor pasture, massive livestock losses, and irregular migration. As a result, communities' food security and livelihoods have been severely jeopardized.

Through ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations), Save the Children is assisting the Delad Health Centre OTP site and its malnutrition stabilization center. 47,254 (Male: 20,430 Female: 26,824) Children under the age of five have been screened for malnutrition as part of this project. The 3,750 (M:1,919 F:1,831) children who were identified as severely malnourished received treatment across the 79 Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) centers, while the 123 children who were suffering from severe malnutrition compounded by other medical complications were referred to Save the Children's stabilization centers, where they were admitted and treated until fully recovered.