East Africa Famine: Life inside the Badbado refugee camp

Aug 31, 2011 09:45 AM

SOS Children is currently offering medical assistance to some of the 8,000 refugees residing in the Badbado refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The below video shows how many of them have walked for days or weeks to reach the camp and are in desperate need of food and water. The National Director of SOS Children's Villages Somalia, Ahmed Mohamed, explains how, through our feeding centre, mobile health clinic and immunisation programme, we are reaching hundreds of seriously ill patients every day.

Voices from the camp...

: Tanzahare and three-year-old Hava

Tanzahare and three-year-old Hava

Tanzahare (left) stands in line to get a medical check-up from an SOS doctor. She is 24 years old, pregnant and holds three-year-old Hava in her arms.

The SOS doctor pinches Hava's foot. The finger mark leaves a dent; the skin does not even out quickly, as it would on a healthy child. "This is a typical sign of malnutrition and dehydration," he says.

Tanzahare comes from the area of Baidoa, 340km away. "We had cattle which we lived off of. But when they all died, we sold everything we had and came here by car - we are hungry and my child is sick."

: Maryam and Harun

Maryam and baby Harun

Maryam (left) has walked over 300 kilometers with her three children in search of food and water. She carried one-year-old Harun all the way. Harun is seriously malnourished. Her arms and legs are very thin, her face is withdrawn and her skin is cracked. "We walked and walked. I just got here last night," she says desperately. The SOS doctor refers her to the hospital quickly. Maybe there is hope now, she thinks.

: Nugay and Bolo

Nugay and Bolo

Nugay and her two-year-old daughter Bolo come from a town 40 kilometers outside Mogadishu. Before they came here they lived in another camp for two months. The animals died, there was no water and no crops. "So we left." Nugay thinks that it will be a year before they can go back. Bolo has bad diarrhoea but has been seen by an SOS doctor and is now receiving treatment.

How you can help

You can make a one-off donation directly to our Emergency Relief Programme in East Africa or take out a child sponsorship to help us to focus on the long-term welfare of children who have no one to care for them as a result of the famine.