Summary:

It had been over three months since Feruz (37) fled her home village in Afar with her husband and their children. She sought to escape the ethnic violence that spread throughout areas bordering Sitti and the south part of Afar Region. Feruz, her husband, and their children currently live in a temporary camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Sitti zone of the Somali Region

They struggle to make ends meet with the meagre assistance that they receive from the government and other humanitarian organizations.
The conflict had placed Feruz and her family in a serious difficulty as they, along with other IDPs, lived in makeshift houses with limited access to food, shelter, water, and other basic life-sustaining necessities and had little access to food, water, shelter, or other needs of life. The recent violent conflict that erupted in Feruz's village has posed a significant threat to the pastoralist livelihood of the community, which is already under pressure from recurrent drought, disease, and high food prices.

Feruz's story in her own words (quotes):

My husband and I have four children together; they are eight, six, four and one year old. Three months ago, my husband and I fled the interethnic conflict while carrying four of our kids. We left everything behind and walked for more than two weeks through the forest and the hot sun, taking just our children and a few basic household things. Eventually, we arrived in this location, where we now reside in a temporary home with little assistance from the government and other supporters.

This conflict had taken many things from us. We lost all our belongings and our house was burnt. Our livestock's and crops were looted. We came to the IDP camp with nothing but our lives. We are now trying to piece our life back together with the support of government and non-governmental organizations.

The lack of clean drinking water, sufficient food, and adequate housing is currently our major issue. These issues are particularly challenging to our children to cope with. Numerous youngsters in the camp are also at risk for diseases due to the poor living conditions and lack of hygiene. We cannot afford to take them to the doctor, so when they become sick, we just pray for the best. The shelter we live in is too small and poorly furnished for our family of six people. The other challenge we face here is the lack of latrine in the nearby, and we required to walk faraway places in to the bush and practice open defecation.

We are really grateful to Save the Children for providing us with supplies like buckets, washing basins, jerricans, and soap that will enable us to collect water, wash our clothes, and maintain our own and our kids' personal hygiene. I would like to use this occasion to request that the government and all of our supporters continue to assist us until the situation gets better.

However, because there are so many displaced individuals here, many people have not received the assistance they require. Out of the more than 2,000 displaced people who are here, the project only reached 600 of them, which is why we are requesting extra assistance.

I am currently most concerned about the fact that I have nothing to feed my kids. Our last food ration was two months ago, and at that time, we were only given 25 kilograms of rice and three litters of cooking oil, which was insufficient, for our extended family of six, and this lasted just only one month.

I want my kids to be happy and healthy. My hopes for the future are that all the current issues will be resolved, that my family and I will be able to live in peace, and that we will soon be able to move back to our village of origin.

Project background:

More than 1,000 internally displaced people living in three IDP camps in the Erer, Gota biki, and Afdem districts of Somali Region, Ethiopia, have received various WASH-NFIs, including washing basins, jericans, and body and laundry soap, thanks to Save the Children's SWAN emergency response project. Families will be able to collect and store drinking water, maintain their personal hygiene, and wash their clothes thanks to this offer.