 |
| The SOS Children's Village in Mogadishu has been providing services to SOS children and local families since the early 1980s. |
June 1, 2011: The drought currently afflicting almost a third of Somalia’s people is one of the worst in recent history, reports the BBC. With the harvest diminished and livestock dying, some 2.4 million Somalis could become destitute or lose their lives.
More than 240,000 Somali children, or one in four, are malnourished -- 57,000 of them severely so -- say aid groups in the country.
The drought comes on top of a two-decade civil war that continues to rage. Driven by drought into the capital Mogadishu, poor families have been flocking to a high-density, low-rent area of the city called Bakara market. Unfortunately, that neighborhood has been the center of especially intense fighting.
Number of Injured Children Surges
The result of families in the recent crossfire is that children under five years old now constitute almost half of those injured due to fighting for control of Mogadishu, according to AlertNet. In May, 735 children under the age of five were brought to Mogadishu’s three main hospitals with weapon-related injuries. The number of injured children is the highest reported since early 2011.
Hospital shortages of basic medicine and equipment mean that many wounded do not receive adequate care.
SOS Giving Hope to Children in Somalia
Children are commonly the hapless victims of forces like drought, war, and poverty that are beyond their control.
In Africa for the last four decades, SOS Children’s Villages gives vulnerable children a chance at life despite terrible odds. Working to give destitute children a home and a full stomach in Somalia and across Africa, SOS offers loving homes, SOS Mothers, education, health care, and hope to children who would otherwise have none.
SOS has been on the ground in Somalia since the early 1980s, continuing to protect children under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. SOS is viewed as a place of safe refuge where SOS Mothers and staff make children’s health, safety, and happiness their top priority.
We need your help in continuing to provide these services to SOS Children in Somalia and across the world. Sponsor an SOS child in Somalia today.
