Voices of the Displaced: What it Means to be a Mother in Somalia

May 2008 – With violence escalating and food shortages widespread, the rapidly eroding humanitarian situation in Somalia has left an estimated 1.8 million people in need of aid. Over 20,000 people flee its capital, Mogadishu, every month to escape ongoing fighting. Currently more than one million people in Somalia have been forced from their homes in its 17 years of civil conflict and live without adequate shelter, sanitation, health care or livelihoods. As food prices hit record highs and rainfalls hit alarming lows, Somalis, particularly the poor, are now even more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease.

Every day, International Medical Corps supports the displaced through a network of health clinics in the camps along the road from Mogadishu to Afgoye. Known as the ‘Afgoye Corridor,’ this 30-kilometer stretch is one of the fastest growing displacement camps in the world. More than 250,000 people have fled the fighting in Mogadishu to resettle in makeshift camps, where IMC sees approximately 8,000 patients each month. Of the thousands of Somalis whom IMC has cared for, the majority are children, who are the most susceptible to the harsh living conditions in the camps. Often suffering from malnutrition or diarrhea, these children likely would not be brought to the clinics - and treated – if it were not for their mothers or closest female caregiver.

In Somalia, where one out of every 35 children younger than five dies from diarrhea and 15 percent of the population suffers from acute malnutrition, mothers face a constant struggle to protect their children’s well-being. In her lifetime, a Somali mother is expected to give birth to six or seven children, but an estimated 11 percent of these babies are lost in labor. As political, economic, and food instability in Somalia continue, mothers rely on agencies like International Medical Corps to make sure their children get the nutrients and medicines they need to be healthy. Photographed with their children or grandchildren, these women offer a small glimpse into their lives and what it means to be a woman and a mother in Somalia.