East Africa Crisis: At the IDP camps in Galkayo
GALKAYO, SOMALIA – We leave the UNICEF compound in Galkayo on Saturday to travel to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in this area. Most of the roads are dirt and gravel tracks, and the very few concrete roads are filled with pot holes, making our journey to the camps a very bumpy one.
A family in the internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Galkyo © UNICEF/Somalia/2011/Mont
As it's the weekend, driving through the city is a lively affair, with lots of people out buying and selling. "Many people in Somalia have guns," Maulid Warfa, the UNICEF Emergency Specialist warns us. It's only then that we realise how many people with guns are in close vicinity.
The weather is hot, dry and windy; dust clouds circulate around as children gather to greet us at the first camp, one of 21 IDP camps in Galkayo. This camp has a population of around 500-600 people.
First we meet Ubah Nurharsi, a nurse in the local mother and child health clinic, where UNICEF provides some of the vital medicinal supplies. "People coming here from the south are different," she tells us. "When they come they are often malnourished and often get diarrhoea in the camps."
In the next post, we'll tell you about Nimco, who travelled to Galkayo from the Baidoa District, 900km away.