BEFORE they had to leave their home, Noorto Mo-Allim’s family owned bulls and cows, and farmed maize and corn.
But, as a victim of one of the world’s most complex and longstanding humanitarian emergencies – the ongoing crisis in Somalia – she has now been living in an aid camp for three months.
There, she has given birth to her youngest daughter, and is reliant on the food packages provided by the Mercy Corps.
The charity says that while large-scale famine has so far been averted in 2017, the impact of a drought has been devastating.
Nearly a million people are on the brink of famine.
In total, more than 6.2 million people, half of the country’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with Noorto and her family an example of the many saved from hunger by the work of Mercy Corps.
READ MORE: How chance of an education is giving hope to those fleeing world’s worst refugee crisis
Large food packages distributed by the international charity include rice, flour, oil, beans, sugar, tea and dates.
Working with local leaders of the camps, Mercy Corps identifies the most vulnerable and needy households, including the elderly, sick, and single parents.
Noorto said: “To us, this is a lot of food, maybe to you it only seemed like you were giving us a little.
“We thank you and whoever was involved in this distribution.
“I am going to share with my neighbours who are orphans, I don’t think the food will last a long time.”
Mercy Corps is The Herald’s Christmas Charity and by donating to our appeal you can support its life-changing work.
In 2016 and 2017 the situation in Somalia has been aggravated by the impact of four consecutively poor rainy seasons.
These led to large-scale new displacement – since January 2017 more than 975,000 Somalis have left their home due to drought or violence.
Between February and October this year the number of people on the brink of famine doubled to 800,000.
Mercy Corps has been working in Somalia since 2005.
During that time it has helped more than one million people access food, clean water, market support, and education and civic opportunities for young people.
Abdikadir Mohamud, Somalia Country Director for Mercy Corps, said: “Right now in Somalia the situation is dire for families who are struggling with the effects of the drought.
“The rainfall has been low and many people have lost their means to make a living and feed themselves.
“Added to that, the security situation has intensified with the planned offensive by the government, which is causing more displacement of people.
“Mercy Corps focusses our emergency response in some of the hardest hit areas, providing life-saving support to families by providing clean drinking water and school-feeding. Our work helps people to remain in their villages where they can so they don’t have to move to displacement camps."
But he added: "Unfortunately, without additional funds, we can only see the situation in Somalia getting worse.
“With the continued low rainfall, we are looking at more families having to rely on humanitarian support to feed themselves.”
READ MORE: How chance of an education is giving hope to those fleeing world’s worst refugee crisis
Somalia has suffered more than 20 years of civil strife and extremism, which has resulted in people being displaced from their homes for years, and relying on governmental and humanitarian assistance.
For three years now the biannual rains have failed, impacting the lives of millions of Somalis who rely on the land to survive.
Drought, flooding and ongoing conflict threaten the food security of millions of people already living in a precarious economic situation.
Mercy Corps is assisting over 2.2 million Somalis with water, food, hygiene services, seeds and tools and income-generating activities.
Please consider donating to the Herald’s Christmas Charity Appeal on behalf of the work of Mercy Corps in Somalia, Syria, and many other crisis hit areas of the world. See below for details of how to donate.
Please consider donating to the Herald’s Christmas Charity Appeal on behalf of the work of Mercy Corps in Syria, Jordan and many other crisis hit areas of the world. See below for details of how to get involved.
You can join in supporting Mercy Corps Europe through this year's Herald Christmas Appeal, online, by text or by sending a cheque.
How to donate:
ONLINE: www.mercycorps.org.uk/herald
PHONE: 08000 413 060 (24hours) or 0131 662 5161 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm)
TEXT: To give £10 text DONATE HERALD to 70755
Texts will be charged at the standard network rate plus the £10 donation. By texting you will receive a call back about our work and what you can do to help. Text DONATE HERALD NO to donate £10 and opt out of calls and texts.
BY POST: Please fill in this form Herald Seasonal Appeal Form.pdf and post to: FREEPOST RSAE-ZBYA-LRZH, Mercy Corps, 40 Sciennes, Edinburgh, EH9 1NJ
You can also follow and support Mercy Corps Europe on social media.
Twitter: @mercycorps_uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mercycorpsuk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mercycorps_europe/
Visit www.mercycorps.org.uk/u/text-giving to read full Terms & Conditions.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel