"‘We Buried Him and Kept Walking’: Children Die as Somalis Flee Hunger"

"The worst drought in four decades and a sharp rise in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine have left almost half of Somalia’s people facing acute food shortages."

"DOOLOW, Somalia — When her crops failed and her parched goats died, Hirsiyo Mohamed left her home in southwestern Somalia, carrying and coaxing three of her eight children on the long walk across a bare and dusty landscape in temperatures as high as 100 degrees.

Along the way, her 3½-year-old son, Adan, tugged at her robe, begging for food and water. But there was none to give, she said. “We buried him and kept walking.”

They reached an aid camp in the town of Doolow after four days, but her malnourished 8-year-old daughter, Habiba, soon contracted whooping cough and died, she said. Sitting in her makeshift tent last month, holding her 2½-year-old daughter, Maryam, in her lap, she said, “This drought has finished us.”"

Abdi Latif Dahir reports for the New York Times with photographs by Malin Fezehai June 11, 2022.

SEE ALSO:

"In Africa, Conflict and Climate Super-Charge the Forces Behind Famine and Food Insecurity" (Inside Climate News)

 

Source: NYTimes, 06/13/2022