DADAAB, Kenya, August 3, 2011 – Most of the Somali refugees crossing into Kenya to escape drought and conflict are women and children. Many of the families I saw queued at the Dadaab refugee reception centres were headed by mothers, grandmothers and older sisters. I often wondered where all the men have gone. This dearth of men is what makes Abdile all the more remarkable. In a community of mothers, Abdile stands apart as the consummate father. Abdile, his wife, four children and their paternal grandmother left home in Somalia in search of food and water after the drought had claimed their crops and livestock. During the 25-day journey, Abdile’s wife succumbed to starvation, while he was forced to will his family forward, at times literally carrying three of his four children on his back. “We had no choice, but to continue,” he said. “We had to keep moving or we would die.” More than medical care Aden, 3, Abdile’s youngest son, grew increasingly malnourished as their food and water supply dwindled. By the time the family reached the refugee settlement in Dadaab, Aden was so weak that he didn’t have the strength to lift his head or swallow. As he was rushed to the hospital, his 5 kg body was perilously close to shutting down. Doctors at the Hagadera hospital wondered whether he would survive. Field diary: At a refugee camp in Kenya, a father's devotion helps his young son survive By Christopher Tidey Abdile holds his son Aden’s hand while the latter sleeps at a stabilisation centre in Dadaab, Kenya.

Two weeks later, Aden was still in the hospital. In fact, he was getting stronger, improving in small increments each day. When I went to visit Aden last, his weight had risen to 6.1 kg and he was beginning to eat solid food. His muscles remain terribly weak, but he is finally able to stand with support for a few seconds at a time. Aden’s slow but steady recovery comes as a result of near constant treatment from the dedicated staff at the Hagadera hospital and a regime of therapeutic feeding provided by UNICEF. But I think there was more to his improving condition than medical care alone. ‘He will survive this' Every time I visited Aden at the hospital, his father was there. The doctors told me that since Aden was admitted, Abdile has been a fixture at his bedside. Each day, the routine is the same. Abdile, the only father in the ward, stays with his son, while Aden’s grandmother cares for his three siblings. Each night, Abdile stayed at the hospital so that Aden could fall asleep under his watchful gaze. The delicacy and love with which Abdile touched, fed, reassured and held his fragile son was a truly beautiful sight – the embodiment of what it means to be a parent. Just as he willed his family to survive the journey to Kenya despite the enormity of their loss, he willed Aden to survive in the hospital.. “Now, more than ever, it is important for our family to stay together,” Abdile told me during our last visit. “My son is getting better day by day, and I know that he will survive this.” Humanitarian response Thousands of new malnutrition cases in children are being reported in the Dadaab camps each month, mostly among newly arrived refugees. Across the region – in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti – well over 2.3 million children are believed to be malnourished as a result of the drought, rising food prices and political instability. More than half a million severely malnourished children in the region are at risk of imminent death. To save their lives, the global humanitarian response must be immediate. UNICEF is working to deliver unprecedented quantities of life-saving therapeutic and supplementary foods to children at risk in the Horn of Africa. By plane, truck and ship, we delivered over 4,000 metric tonnes of nutrition supplies to some of the hardest-hit and hardest-to-reach areas in Somalia alone. UNICEF will expand supplementary feeding to reach hundreds of thousands more children and their families as quickly as possible. The 800 feeding centres across Somalia, including 500 in the south, assist 35,000 malnourished children monthly. Plans are underway to more than double efforts to reach 100,000 children like Aden. Sometimes, because of the tremendous suffering I see here, I wonder whether the international community is capable of mounting a response that is equal to the humanitarian challenges on the ground. But then I think about Abdile and Aden, their struggle, their bond and their triumph. And I remember that there is still hope in this land

SOMALIA: Safia's camp has become a home to her family for eight years By Jessica Mony and Kate Vigurs We leave the first camp to travel about 10 minutes to another IDP camp in Galkayo. We can only stay a certain amount of time in each camp due to concerns about large crowds gathering around us. We arrive just outside the second camp where we meet Safia Mahammed Abdi and her children. Safia has five children, aged from 2 to 7. Anas is 2 years old and is the baby she is holding with the yellow top. Farhiye is 3 years old and we met him as we entered the camp. He has now turned quite shy and clutches at his mothers dress as we ask her about life in the camp. The family have lived in this camp in Galkayo for 8 years. They fled here from Mogadishu as a result of the fighting. We ask her what she feeds her children and she says, "I give my children maize, milk, rice and spaghetti." We ask if things have changed recently in terms of the food she has, she says, "Yes, it’s very difficult to get food these days because of the drought." Getting each of her jerry cans filled each day costs around 2000 shillings, which is an added strain on the families little resources. We ask her whether her children have had any support from UNICEF, she says, "I get Unimix porridge." We also ask if her children are vaccinated and she says, "all of my children are vaccinated, I go to mother and child health days. The immunisation will protect my children from disease." Of the camp she says, "I feel secure here, it’s more peaceful than Mogadishu. But there is more we need to be well." Living in a camp is not a choice for many of the families; it’s the only option they have to be able to survive war and drought.

SOMALIA - The drought’s devastating legacy By Jessica Mony and Kate Vigurs Right now over 550,000 children in Somalia are malnourished because they don’t have enough food to eat, and if they get any, it’s not nutritionally balanced. The deteriorating situation is alarming and will impact millions of children long after the drought is over. Talking to UNICEF staff on the front line responding to the food crisis, I found out why the drought is having such a devastating effect of children. Food is scarce Somalians eat a diet mainly of grains and maize and, if they have the money, goat or camel meat. The drought has meant the grain and maize harvest has failed two years in a row. Camels and goats, key to the subsistence economy, don’t have any water to drink and are dying. This leaves families with no food supply, let alone any income to afford the rising prices of the scarcely available imported food like rice. “For families who have had to flee fighting or are so desperate for food they seek out displaced persons camps, finding this food is a daily struggle.” says Maulid Warfa, UNICEF Emergency Specialist for Somalia. The deadly cycle of Somalia’s food crisis Children under five are the most affected. When they can get it, rice and maize offer little nutrition for growing minds and bodies, leading to malnourishment. Weak bodies mean children are vulnerable to deadly diseases like measles, polio and whooping cough. With Somalia having one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, this leaves children who haven’t been immunized critically vulnerable to preventable diseases. This damaging cycle of malnutrition often starts from the time a woman is pregnant. Without a source of essential nutrients themselves, malnourished mothers aren’t able to pass these onto their growing babies. Babies are born malnourished, and mothers’ bodies often aren’t able to produce enough milk to feed them. Out of desperation, mothers try find whatever they can to feed their hungry babies; water or rarely available maize or camel milk. This precarious situation can soon lead to severe malnourishment, which if not treated immediately can lead to death. This cycle contributes to one in every six children in Somalia dying before their firth birthday – and the numbers are fast getting worse. What we need to do now While we hope the drought is temporary until the dry weather subsides, the effects of malnourishment are for life. That is why we urgently need to get lifesaving treatments like therapeutic milk and ready to use therapeutic food out to children who need it most in Somalia and across East Africa. In the longer term UNICEF is also working to install and restore water sources to help bring safe water to those most vulnerable to drought.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences on a lined paper with your name and the date by using examples from the text 1.What rights of children are violated in the first article? 2.What rights of children are upheld in the first article? 3.Why are people leaving Somalia? 4.What are the causes of the famine in Somalia? 5.What rights of children are violated in the second article? 6.What rights of children are upheld in the second article? 7.How many Feeding centers are in Somalia, and how many people do they service? 8.What do Somali’s eat the most? Why is this particularly devastating now? 9.Compare the first two articles, write down any similarities or differences that you see. 10.Write a personal response to what you have just read, include your thoughts and feelings on the issue and what you believe the world should do to help. Include a proposal as well, this part of the assignment is open-ended meaning there are no wrong answers.