Fleeing Somalia’s Drought to Find Food

“We have been displaced after our livestock died because of drought, and my family’s only livelihood is animal breeding,” said Fadumo, a 25 year old mother of three in Somalia. “We had almost 30 goats and 4 cattle. 22 of our goats and all the cattle died. We sold the remaining 8 goats. The money we received from the sale, we used for transportation for our trip to Mogadishu. We heard that you could get free cooked food in some of the districts in Mogadishu which SAACID runs, and that is the reason we preferred to reside in Bondhere,” (Mogadishu.).

Fadumo and her family fled the drought from the Bay Region 3 months ago. “Our life was good before we were displaced from Bay, because we had a small farm and some domestic animals that I used to milk for my children. Our lifestyle was good and getting better,” Fadumo continues. “Now, in Mogadishu things are very tough. For the last 1 month, our survival has mainly depended on the food that we get from this food kitchen. This is because there is no income for the family, because my husband is unemployed. The food that we receive from the kitchen is enough for my family and we divide it into two parts, one part for the lunch and the other part for dinner. We are satisfied with the quality of the food that we receive.”

The mother welcomed SAACID’s feeding program in all Mogadishu’s districts, and blessed SAACID and its generous partners.

In addition to other programmes, SAACID has operated a food kitchen programme for 3 ½ years, and runs 16 kitchens in all Mogadishu districts. The programme has a capacity to deliver 80,000 hot meals every day throughout the city. Over the years, the programme has delivered more than 65 million hot lifesaving meals. SAACID has been operational in Somalia since 1990, supporting the people of Somalia.